Free Flight Investigation Of The Deployment Of A Parawing Recovery Device For A Radio Controlled 1 5 Scale Dynamic Model Spacecraft

Free-flight Investigation of the Deployment of a Parawing Recovery Device for a Radio-controlled 1/5-scale Dynamic Model Spacecraft

A free-flight investigation of a redio-controlled model of a manned reentry spacecraft with a telescoping rigid parawing as a recovery system was made to evaluate the deployment process and the stability and control characteristics of the configuration. Flight tests showed that the parawing could be deployed from a packaged condition, but that the deployment process must be a sequence of carefully controlled and timed events, and that some portions of the deployment should not occur at too fast a rate. The most significant single factor learned about the deployment process was that the parawing had to be slowly rotated to a lifting condition. Transition which is too fast from zero lift to maximum lift would result in a tumbling motion. After the parawing was deployed, the configuration was stable and controllable.

NASA Technical Note

Low-subsonic Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Delta-wing Recovery Device for Nonlifting Spacecraft