SpaceX test parachute system for Commercial Crew Dragon

[Jcc]

8000ft, How high does the pad abort take the Dragon? I would think it would be a lot less than 8000ft, so I don't understand the validity of this test.

They can see how quickly he chutes deploy and reach safe velocity for landing. As long as that occurs within a vertical range less than the pad abort altitude, it passes the test.

[veblen]

I think that image of Dragon descending under its parachutes must have brought back a lot of good memories to the Apollo guys.

Actually, not so much compared to this:

www.youtube.com/JLdP-L7D58g‎

The Orion mock-up was propelled over 3800 ft up and almost 7000 ft downrange.

[AJW]

That link was broken.  Here's another:

[Robotbeat]

Orion pad abort 1 had an apogee of 6000ft, and Apollo's pad abort had an apogee of over 9000ft, I believe. So 8000ft isn't that different.

[veblen]

Thnks for posting the video and the correct apogee. Looking forward to SpaceX pad abort later this year.

[clongton]

The LAS seemed to come awfully close to the descending Orion at 1:59 in the video. Any idea how close it came to hitting the capsule?

[AJW]

At 5:40 there is a second camera angle and the whole system goes nearly horizontal just before release.  The LAS continues to fire after release and this may be designed to create the maximum separation from the capsule.  The falling LAS is not visible in the second angle, but this footage may end before that point.

[Avron]

Is this a Spacex LAS test.. if not please move  or paint a Spacex logo on the new"Dragon"

[corrodedNut]

The Dragon drogue chutes have always been mortar deployed.

I agree. Whether it's pyro or pressurized gas we may never know, to me the real differences are the location of the mortar tubes, the parachute riser troughs, and the main parachute compartment, see attached photo:

By moving the mortar tubes closer to the attach point of the main risers, the drogue risers no longer have to rip through x-amount of backshell TPS to deploy properly (one less failure mode).

Moving the main parachute attach point to the hatch side of the vehicle, the crew come down "back first" rather than "feet first" in the event of a splashdown.

This puts the hatch in the way of the main 'chute riser trough that extends down to the main 'chute compartment, which explains why they bifurcated it around the hatch.

There's no need for a grapple fixture on a spacecraft that docks, presumably any other equipment from the "sensor bay" will be moved elsewhere. That leaves a lot of space for additional Draco and SuperDraco propellant storage.

[Eyetam]

Great analysis corrodedNut!

I wonder if there is any changes on Dragon2 related to the nosecone...I have the impression the drogue mortars are located in what used to be the nosecone?

[Comga]

Another view of the bottom protuberance (green oval) and one for the drogue chute (red oval).
Likely high speed cameras.

This image says to me that the protuberances are guides for the helicopter lifting cables.
I highly doubt that they are camera housings.  They are bigger than one would really need, and not a good shape for that.

[TomH]

Just wondering about the article... what is the subject of the third photograph? It looks like a mountain or boulder.

Morro Rock. It is the landmark for which Morro Bay is famous for in tourist brochures, calendars and photo-shoots of space capsule tests!

Yup, Morrow Bay is a cool little resort village, less than 10 miles from Cal Poly where my daughter is an engineering major.

[cambrianera]

Another view of the bottom protuberance (green oval) and one for the drogue chute (red oval).
Likely high speed cameras.

This image says to me that the protuberances are guides for the helicopter lifting cables.
I highly doubt that they are camera housings.  They are bigger than one would really need, and not a good shape for that.

It seems to me that the on board sequence of deployment of drogue was taken likely from the upper protuberance POV.

[Lars_J]

It looks like the KSC commercial crew gallery section has been updated with more images from the parachute drop test: http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=240 (two pages of pictures)

Here are two of them:

[sublimemarsupial]

Another view of the bottom protuberance (green oval) and one for the drogue chute (red oval).
Likely high speed cameras.

This image says to me that the protuberances are guides for the helicopter lifting cables.
I highly doubt that they are camera housings.  They are bigger than one would really need, and not a good shape for that.

Looking at one of the images from the KSC media gallery, it definitely appears like those protrusions are for cameras. It actually looks like a GoPro to me.

[Robotbeat]

Nice catch!

[Comga]

Another view of the bottom protuberance (green oval) and one for the drogue chute (red oval).
Likely high speed cameras.

This image says to me that the protuberances are guides for the helicopter lifting cables.
I highly doubt that they are camera housings.  They are bigger than one would really need, and not a good shape for that.

Looking at one of the images from the KSC media gallery, it definitely appears like those protrusions are for cameras. It actually looks like a GoPro to me.

Ha!  Nice one. You have convinced me. Good spotting.
A GoPro. Clever. I see them all the time on the ski slopes.   Simple, rugged, high def, waterproof, shock resistant. Perfect.

[LEGO_Man]

Looks like a reversed Arlon logo in that last KSC image. Here's their silicates, thermal, and electronics materials sites, respectively.  I wonder which of their products SpaceX is using? My bet is on some type of high-temp adhesive.

[Comga]

In the NASA press release (#14-018 2014-01-17) and web posting they said:

During a normal spacecraft landing, the parachutes will be aided by the Dragon’s SuperDraco thrusters to provide a soft controlled landing. This redundancy on both the parachutes and thrusters is designed to ensure safe landings for crews.

[emphasis added]
This does not line up exactly with what SpaceX has been saying.  Sounds like a Soyuz landing.
Could this be what SpaceX has agreed to for NASA manned missions or just a garbled description?
As Emily Shanklin of Spacex was listed on the release, one would think that it would be accurate.

[Robotbeat]

That isn't a surprise. We saw a similar Dragon parachute+Superdraco landing video at least a year ago, I believe.