Tests of a 35-meter parachute designed to slow down at subsonic speed took place in Oregon on November 21 and December 3
PARIS, December 14th. /tass/. Two second-stage parachutes, which are planned to be used during the descent to Mars of the equipment of the Russian-European Exomars mission, were successfully tested in late November - early December in the United States. This was reported on Tuesday by the European Space Agency (ESA).
"The first successful high-altitude test of the largest parachute for descent to Mars has been completed, this is an important milestone in the implementation of the Exomars mission, scheduled for launch in 2022. Thus, parachutes of both the first and second stages were successfully tested this year," the communique notes.
Tests of a 35-meter parachute designed to slow down at subsonic speed took place in Oregon on November 21 and December 3. One of the models was produced by the European company Aerocosmo, the other by the American Airborne Systems. It is reported that both models have worked well in tests and new tests can be carried out until March 2022. So far, the organizers of the mission intend to use the parachute of the first stage produced by Airborne Systems, and the Aerocosmo parachute will be in the second stage.
"We have made the most of all the previous tests, and this double success, following the impressive deployment of the first-stage parachute earlier this year, allows us to say that we are really on the way to launch. We have demonstrated that we have two parachutes for a flight to Mars," said Thierry Blankuert, head of the ESA Exomars program group.
The launch of the second half of the Exomars mission was originally scheduled for 2018, but later the launch of the European rover and the Russian landing platform Kazachok was postponed to 2020, and then to 2022 (ESA predicts a launch window in the period from September 20 to October 1). It is planned to send them into space using a Proton-M carrier rocket with a Briz-M upper stage from the Baikonur cosmodrome. The project aims to explore the surface of Mars and search for potential traces of extraterrestrial life.
