More parachute problems for Europe’s Franklin Mars rover
During a parachute drop test in late June, following a redesign of the parachute with U.S. help, engineers for the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Mars rover found the chute still experienced problems that tore it during deployment.
They actually performed two drop tests, a day apart, using two different parachutes, with the first test apparently going off without a hitch. However, according to the press release:
“The performance of the second main parachute was not perfect but much improved thanks to the adjustments made to the bag and canopy. After a smooth extraction from the bag, we experienced an unexpected detachment of the pilot chute during final inflation. This likely means that the main parachute canopy suffered extra pressure in certain parts. This created a tear that was contained by a Kevlar reinforcement ring. Despite that, it fulfilled its expected deceleration and the descent module was recovered in good state.”
I have embedded below the fold the only video released by the European Space Agency. It is not clear whether this is from the first or second test. Near the end it appears that the pilot chute above the main chute might be separated, but the video ends before that can be confirmed.
Though ESA has apparently improved the chute’s performance significantly since its earlier failures that contributed to the delay of ExoMars from last year to 2022, they still haven’t gotten the chute completely right. Fortunately they still have time to get it fixed before that ’22 launch.
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During a parachute drop test in late June, following a redesign of the parachute with U.S. help, engineers for the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Mars rover found the chute still experienced problems that tore it during deployment.
They actually performed two drop tests, a day apart, using two different parachutes, with the first test apparently going off without a hitch. However, according to the press release:
“The performance of the second main parachute was not perfect but much improved thanks to the adjustments made to the bag and canopy. After a smooth extraction from the bag, we experienced an unexpected detachment of the pilot chute during final inflation. This likely means that the main parachute canopy suffered extra pressure in certain parts. This created a tear that was contained by a Kevlar reinforcement ring. Despite that, it fulfilled its expected deceleration and the descent module was recovered in good state.”
I have embedded below the fold the only video released by the European Space Agency. It is not clear whether this is from the first or second test. Near the end it appears that the pilot chute above the main chute might be separated, but the video ends before that can be confirmed.
Though ESA has apparently improved the chute’s performance significantly since its earlier failures that contributed to the delay of ExoMars from last year to 2022, they still haven’t gotten the chute completely right. Fortunately they still have time to get it fixed before that ’22 launch.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
It makes me scratch my head that space agencies, especially NASA and ESA don’t share mutually beneficial tech such as landing parachutes for Mars. I know that NASA has been helping out with the testing of ESA’s parachute, but surely there is a person or team there that could point out the problems?
I don’t have a huge amount of faith in ESA’s ability to land and operate successfully a rover on Mars, it’s one more along with the James Webb on my “hope for the best…) List
I appreciate Lee Stevenson’s concern, but there are two factors that mitigate sharing expertise:
1. Pride
2. The real factor that the development experience gained is a significant benefit of designing and testing a née system, regardless of the system-specific knowledge gained.
@Ray Van Dune, I have no doubt you are correct on the first point. As I have mentioned here before, I remember seeing a TV program, well over a decade ago, when Steve Squires went and had a look at the Exomars rover being built, and asked if he had any advice, he said 6 wheel steering had got spirit and opportunity out of many a sticky situation. The Exomars rover still has only front and back steering wheels. The middle set are fixed…. I guess time will tell who was right, but I won’t bet against Steve.
As to your second point, surely shared experience is beneficial to all? Not just to share technology, but to share the research behind it. I don’t mean to make light of what is a genuinely difficult problem, but the US has landing on Mars nailed… Why doesn’t the ESA ask the US to design and build a parachute for them? We could even send you some genuinely tasty cheese and wine in return! ;-)
Pride may be preventing the ESA team from easily accepting shared experiences, but I think that the real problem stems from the fact that parachute technology is not as well understood as most people believe. ExoMars is using a new design, and the tried and true methods have not worked out as well as expected.
This is why there is such extensive testing and so much trouble with new parachute designs (even on Starliner) but not as extensive testing or trouble with, for instance, new pressure vessel designs. (Even pressure vessels can be problematic. I have worked with a couple of vacuum chambers that needed C-clamps to hold the doors closed during initial pump down.)
@Edward42, an interesting tangent! I would have imagined that doors on a vacuum chamber would self seal… I am intrigued! Would you be willing to share more information?