A Lifting Parachute for Very-Low-Altitude, Very -High-speed Deliveries

Abstract

A two-stage lifting parachute system is being developed for very-low-altitude subsonic and transonic deliveries. This type of delivery had previously required a small, heavily constructed, single-stage parachute. The two-stage parachute system can decrease the impact energy of a payload to one-tenth that of a conventional single-stage system and increase the impact angle to nearly vertical. Development testing of the lifting parachute has included five drop tests at release velocities of Mach 0.64 to Mach 0.78. The payload was lifted 16 to 142 ft above the release altitude in these tests. A sixth test at Mach 1.2 resulted in a structural failure, thus demonstrating a requirement for a short-reefed stage for supersonic deliveries.