The European Space Agency (ESA) confirmed the previously appeared , reporting that another test of parachutes to be used on the Russian-European mission ExoMars 2020 (ExoMars-2020) ended in failure last week, jeopardizing the mission's schedule.
As part of the tests planned before the launch of the mission, it was envisaged to conduct several tests of the landing module parachutes at the Esrange test site of the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC).
The first test took place last year and demonstrated the successful deployment of the largest main parachute during the landing of a payload sent from a helicopter from a height of 1,2 km. The main parachute has a diameter of 35 m. It is the largest parachute ever used for a Martian mission.
On May 28 of this year, the next test of the parachute system took place, when the sequence of deployment of all four parachutes was tested for the first time during the descent of a mock-up from a height of 29 km, delivered to the stratosphere using a helium balloon.
The tests were considered unsuccessful due to damage that appeared on both main parachute canopies. The mission team made improvements to the parachute system and conducted another test on August 5, this time focusing on a larger parachute with a diameter of 35 m.
According to preliminary analysis, the initial stages of testing the parachute went well, however, as in the previous test, damage appeared in the parachute canopy even before inflating. As a result, further descent was carried out only with the help of a pilot chute, which led to the destruction of the layout.
Source: 3dnews.ru