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SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: Inflatable space parachute or escape pod - Just another use inflatable technology?

Wow inflatables can be used almost every where. Might be used for cargo or escape pod return. A blending of the Habitat and the shuttle tps cloths as it were for a novel use.

This artist's conception shows an inflatable re-entry shield descending to Earth. Russian and European engineers are working together on a project to develop such shields, known as Inflatable Re-entry and Descent Technology

Russians keep working on ‘space parachute’

Partial successes
In February 2000, a flight test of what Russian space engineers call the “space parachute” came close to success. The garbage-can-sized hardware flew as a free piggyback payload on the first orbital test of the Fregat, a new upper stage for Russia’s Soyuz rocket. After reaching orbit, the Fregat stage then dove back into the atmosphere.

The Demonstrator-1 payload separated from the upper stage and inflated its ring of balloons. Tracked by Russian air defense radars, the vehicle descended as planned, surviving the extreme temperatures and enduring a maximum force of 15 G’s. It landed near Orenburg in the southern Urals, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) past the aim point. A secondary balloon failure left it somewhat scorched, but intact.

John Creighton

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From: Nova Scotia, Canada

Registered: 2001-09-04

Posts: 2,401

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Re: Inflatable space parachute or escape pod - Just another use inflatable technology?

cool 

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SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: Inflatable space parachute or escape pod - Just another use inflatable technology?

There have been a couple of points in the Has Dr. Zubrin Addressed Mars Direct Objections? thread where we have talked about the use of aerobraking the vehicles into mars orbit.

Andrews Space, Inc. Wins Contract to Flight Test a Variable-Drag Ballute

A Ballute is a pressure-stabilized, inflatable membrane that provides a large, blunt, high-drag surface for aerobraking systems. Ballutes offer significant advantages over rigid shells for aerocapture and reentry of spacecraft by providing simplified packaging and lower total weight.

Another use for inflatables?  ??? Very simular to the one the russians are working on under the technology thread.

SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: Inflatable space parachute or escape pod - Just another use inflatable technology?

Topic fixed for shifting and artifacts...

I am not sure what happened to the topic of hyercone or ballutes but they seem to be gone from the great crash...

Nasa is currently working on the Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) which is another cone shaped inflateable....following on the heels of a successful flight of the Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE)-3

Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/2014031 … rs-landing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercone_(spacecraft)

http://www.ulalaunch.com/uploads/docs/P … e_2015.pdf

SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: Inflatable space parachute or escape pod - Just another use inflatable technology?

The front runner to the HIAD program comes from these projects.

Structural Analysis and Testing of the Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE)

INFLATABLE AND FOLDABLE AEROTHERMODYNAMICS DECELERATORS AS PART OF AERO SEKUR EDL TECHNOLOGIES

SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: Inflatable space parachute or escape pod - Just another use inflatable technology?

see-nasa-s-inflatable-heat-shield-demo-get-deployed-in-space-for-re-entry-test video