An Overview of Technical Textiles for Spacecraft Parachutes

Materials selection is carefully considered in spacecraft parachute design to ensure parachute objective success, as evidenced by parachute systems used on Orion and the Mars Exploration Rover. Parachutes must be lightweight and flexible for packing, capable of rapid inflation, and strong enough to handle significant tensile loads. Both common and unique materials are used in textile applications on spacecraft parachutes to meet these challenging demands. This paper provides an overview of the technical textiles used on spacecraft parachutes. Materials used as textiles will be identified, with their common industry term noted, chemical composition, and structure explained. Materials reviewed will include polytetrafluoroethylene, aliphatic and aromatic amides, polyethylene terephthalate, and poly(p-phenylenebenzobisoxazole). The steps of manufacturing a textile will be addressed for fibers, yarns, and finished textile products. The textile construction methods to produce finished products will be reviewed including weaving, and cord construction. Finished products and potential applications in parachutes will be considered for woven fabric, cords, and webbing. Specific examples will be given for the Orion and Mars Exploration Rover parachutes to demonstrate the importance of materials science in successful parachute design.