NASA Conducts Second Test of Main Parachute for Ares Rockets

Nov. 15, 2007

Melissa Mathews/Beth Dickey
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1272/2087
melissa.mathews-1@xxxxxxxx, beth.dickey-1@xxxxxxxx

Kim Newton
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
kimberly.d.newton@xxxxxxxx

RELEASE: 07-254

NASA CONDUCTS SECOND TEST OF MAIN PARACHUTE FOR ARES ROCKETS

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - NASA and industry engineers successfully tested
the
main parachute for Constellation Program rockets during a drop test
Thursday at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground near Yuma, Ariz.

The parachute system will allow Ares I and Ares V first stage
boosters
to be recovered and reused. Thursday's test validated the results of
an earlier test conducted in September.

"Measuring 150-feet in diameter and weighing 2,000 pounds, this is
the
biggest chute of its kind that's been tested," said Steve Cook,
director of the Ares Projects Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Ala. "With each milestone, we bring ourselves
one step closer to further exploring the moon."

Exploring the moon and beyond is the focus of the Constellation
Program, which is developing a new family of U.S. launch vehicles,
spacecraft and related systems for exploration.

Booster recovery was the focus of the recent test, the second in a
series. Outfitted with a 42,000-pound weight to simulate the load of
a rocket's first stage, the main parachute was dropped from a U.S.
Air Force C-17 aircraft flying at an altitude of 16,500 feet. The
1-ton parachute and all supporting hardware functioned properly,
landing safely approximately three minutes later on the Yuma Proving
Ground test range.

During the first main parachute test on Sept. 25, the parachute was
dropped from a slightly higher elevation of 17,500 feet, giving NASA
engineers the opportunity to monitor parachute performance at a
dynamic pressure of 86 pounds per square foot. After the drop's
completion, engineers spent several weeks reviewing test data -
measuring the parachute's peak loads at opening, determining the
canopy expansion rate during the early phase of inflation and
measuring the parachute's drag area as it drifted down to Earth.

The Ares first stage booster recovery system is derived from the
system NASA uses to recover the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters
after launch. The first stage booster for Ares I is similar to the
space shuttle's solid rocket booster but has an added fifth segment
of propellant, resulting in a heavier load.

The current parachute tests are necessary to allow for differences
between the space shuttle's four-segment boosters and the Ares launch
vehicles. Testing is scheduled to run through 2010.

ATK Launch Systems near Promontory, Utah, is the prime contractor for
the first stage booster. ATK's subcontractor, United Space Alliance
of Houston, is responsible for the design, development and testing of
the parachutes at its facilities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.


The Constellation Program is managed out of NASA's Johnson Space
Center, Houston, and the Ares Projects are managed out of NASA's
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. Yuma Proving Ground
provides the test range, support facilities and equipment.

Video of the test will be available Friday on NASA Television's Video
File. For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information,
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information about NASA's Constellation Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/constellation


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