NASA is synonymous with spacecrafts, but this time they are in news owing to one of their latest stunts in developing a Parachute. This special Parachute has been developed for aiding the spacecraft land on Mars to set up an analytical laboratory, which NASA plans to launch in 2009. The spacecraft under discussion here is being built by Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
Though I would like to bring your attention not to the spacecraft but the Parachute, which is going to help this spacecraft land. Not diverting from the point that this special Parachute will help a huge spacecraft land not mere human beings, it has been made with utmost care and precision.
This huge Parachute is being tested by the Mars Science Laboratory, NASA. Built by Pioneer Aerospace, the Parachute has 80 suspension lines. It is more than 50 meters long with an opening of almost 17 meters. It large size is complimented by a large disk gap of about 3.8 meters.
If we go by NASA, then this Parachute is also unique in terms of its wide disk gap. The NASA engineers claim this Parachute has the largest disk gap to be ever built in a Parachute. But how many times do we build Parachutes to help rovers land in Mars?
Keeping in mind its large size, it required an equally large wind tunnel. Known specifically as the world’s largest wind tunnel in possession of Ames Research Center, NASA, in the sate of California. The tunnel is said to provide room for a Boeing 737 easily.
Source: NASA
