Flip-Flop Recovery System for sounding rocket payloadsThe design, development, and testing of the Flip-Flop Recovery System, which protects sensitive forward-mounted instruments from ground impact during sounding rocket payload recovery operations, are discussed. The system was originally developed to reduce the impact damage to the expensive gold-plated forward-mounted spectrometers in two existing Taurus-Orion rocket payloads. The concept of the recovery system is simple: the payload is flipped over end-for-end at a predetermined time just after parachute deployment, thus minimizing the risk of damage to the sensitive forward portion of the payload from ground impact.
Document ID
19870028472
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Flores, A., Jr. (NASA Wallops Flight Center Wallops Island, VA, United States)