Experimental Study on a Parachute for Can-SAT

Can-SAT parachutes must fall down at lower speed than normal ones, since they should be simulating satellite missions during their falling. They also should be deployed after the line is fully extended, and have stability against swing motion. A wind tunnel experiment was carried out for the design of Can-SAT parachute satisfying these conditions. Parachutes with the desired terminal speed, that is, the same cross sectional area, were produced by limiting as the cruciform and round shape, which are simple forms of manufacture. As the design parameters, different arm-ratio and line-length ones are included in our experiment. In order to measure the drag force against the speed in the steady state, a wire type support was made and a load cell mounted at the center of the support. Also using high-speed camera, the deployment characteristics were investigated. The results show that all of the parachutes manufactured satisfy the required deployment characteristic and that there is a significant difference in the drag force depending on the shape.