Performance of Supersonic Parachutes Behind Slender Bodies

NASA’s ASPIRE (Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiments) project is
investigating the supersonic deployment, inflation and aerodynamics of full-scale disk-gap-band
(DGB) parachutes. The first two flight tests were carried out in October 2017 and March 2018, while
a third test is planned for the fall of 2018. In these tests, Mars-relevant conditions are achieved by
deploying the parachutes at high altitudes over Earth using a sounding rocket test platform. As a
result, the parachute is deployed behind a slender body (roughly 1/6-th the diameter of the capsule
that will use this parachute for descent at Mars). Because there is limited flight and experimental
data for supersonic DGBs behind slender bodies, the development of the parachute aerodynamic
models was informed by CFD simulations of both the leading body wake and the parachute canopy.
This presentation will describe the development of the pre-flight parachute aerodynamic models
and compare pre-flight predictions with the reconstructed performance of the parachute during the
flight tests. Specific attention will be paid to the differences in parachute performance behind blunt
and slender bodies.