SpaceX has conducted 13 consecutive successful tests of the Crew Dragon parachute system, the company said in a tweet. Thus, the company demonstrated the safety of the redesigned parachute system – in May 2019, such tests ended in an accident.
NASA Commercial Crew Program is dedicated to the development of private spacecraft that will deliver astronauts to the International Space Station(ISS). It is expected that the U.S. will stop using Russian Soyuz ships. As part of this program, Boeing built the CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX built the Crew Dragon. During the development process, the company faced a number of technical problems, so the first launches of ships and other tests were repeatedly postponed, and individual systems had to be finalized.
The CST-100 has not yet flown, and Crew Dragon has already flown to the ISS without a crew and returned to Earth. Among other tests of the systems of the spacecraft being developed, SpaceX decided to demonstrate that the manned spacecraft is capable of landing even with one failed parachute out of four. However, this test failed – the parachutes could not slow down enough to slow down the test capsule, which caused it to be damaged during landing. This was announced in May 2019 by the head of NASA manned programs Bill Gerstenmaier. At the same time, Elon Musk said at a press conference that SpaceX intends to conduct “at least 10 successful tests before launching astronauts.”
SpaceX has now reported 13 consecutive successfully completed tests of the redesigned third-version parachute system, which uses zeylon instead of nylon. 12 times the company tested a single parachute, and the last time successfully demonstrated and optional scenario – the disclosure of only three parachutes out of four. A video of SpaceX’s latest test was posted on Twitter.
Now SpaceX has announced 13 consecutive successful trials of the redesigned parachute system of the third version, which, for example, uses zylon instead of nylon. 12 times the company tested a single parachute, and the last time successfully demonstrated and optional scenario – the disclosure of only three parachutes out of four. A video of SpaceX’s latest test was posted on Twitter.
SpaceX team has completed 13 successful tests in a row of upgraded Mark 3 parachutes for Crew Dragon. Most recent test demonstrated the parachute system’s ability to land the spacecraft safely in the unlikely event that one of the four main parachutes fails. pic.twitter.com/VJzDeS8UAG
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 3, 2019
The ship Crew Dragon has other systems that require additional verification. So, Crew Dragon, already flying on the ISS as a truck, was destroyed during the fire tests of the engines of the emergency rescue system. In the near future, SpaceX plans to repeat the fire tests of the emergency rescue system. The company also planned to conduct additional tests of CAC in flight, which is not formally required for certification of the ship – Boeing, for example, does not plan to conduct flight tests.