Tailoring a Parachute Recovery System for Commercial Space; the Commercial Crew Development Ⅱ Parachute Recovery System for the CST-100 Space Capsule

摘要

This document observes the transition of government space flight to privately operated space ventures by discussing Airborne Systems (AS) managerial and design approach for The Boeing Company's Commercial Space Transportation 100 (CST-100) parachute recovery system. It follows the CST-100 parachute system development for the Commercial Crew Development Ⅱ (CCDev Ⅱ) phase of work. During this development phase Airborne Systems worked with Boeing to adopt only the best of the many program management practices and procedures that are used for government customers. A small dedicated team was formed to provide continuity throughout the project and thus optimize the overall effort. Risk was minimized or avoided altogether by benefitting from the vast knowledge of past and ongoing government programs. This experience helped forecast potential system enhancements such as integration and installation foresight, simplified routing and parachute components, and additional system flexibility. Moreover, by adopting AS heritage systems and parachute planforms to fit the CST-100 recovery requirements, critical time was redirected on design maturation and simplification in order to provide a highly effective, yet lean system. This led to the initial system development, marked by two highly successful development parachute drop tests, thus paving the road ahead for further qualification of the CST-100 parachute system.