A study of the reefing system of a supersonic parachute for Mars exploration

As a deceleration device, parachute plays an important role in vehicle recovery and deep space exploration. The current parachute used for Mars exploration has reached the performance limit of system weight and drag load during canopy inflation. A parachute system that can carry more load and reduce inflation load at high speed in Mars exploration is presented for the development of application requirements. Reefing system can effectively reduce the inflation load of parachute and improve stability. However, the reefing system is usually used for subsonic parachute deceleration, has not been applied to the deep space exploration field in supersonic state. This paper studies the feasibility of the application of reefing technique in supersonic parachutes. In this paper, the study on reefing system of supersonic parachute is carried out based on the disk-gap-band (DGB) parachute commonly used in Mars exploration. This paper uses the fluid-structure-interaction (FSI) simulation technology to study the DGB parachute: the aerodynamic characteristics of the parachute with reefing, such as drag, stability and load characteristics; the influence of the position of reefing system on parachute stability; the influence of the time to release the reefing line on the inflation load of parachute. Additionally, subsonic state and supersonic state is studied. Finally, the reefing design method suitable for the supersonic DGB parachute is obtained. All the efforts are to support the Mars exploration, especially for the design of reefing system of supersonic DGB parachute.