1970 US Martian parachute test

I have put on my website http://utenti.lycos.it/paoloulivi/sepd.html a
picture of the SEPD Martian parachute prototype and its original caption
(in French and translated in English).
Unfortunately I can't find anything on this experiment and even the NASA
Technical Report site is of little help. Can somebody help? In
particular, does anybody know whether SEPD had any link with the final
Viking parachute design?
Paolo

Paolo Ulivi wrote:

I have put on my website http://utenti.lycos.it/paoloulivi/sepd.html a
picture of the SEPD Martian parachute prototype and its original
caption (in French and translated in English).


Is it just me, or does this thing look like some outgrowth of MOOSE?

Pat

On Sat, 18 Sep 2004 12:42:10 -0500, Pat Flannery
wrote:



Paolo Ulivi wrote:

I have put on my website http://utenti.lycos.it/paoloulivi/sepd.html a
picture of the SEPD Martian parachute prototype and its original
caption (in French and translated in English).


Is it just me, or does this thing look like some outgrowth of MOOSE?

Pat

I think the picture is mislabeled. Why would they test a parachute in
an anechoic chamber? Look at the radar absorbing cones on the walls.
Wouldn't you test a parachute in a wind tunnel?

That looks more like a folding high gain antenna.

- Rusty Barton

In article , Rusty Barton
wrote:

On Sat, 18 Sep 2004 12:42:10 -0500, Pat Flannery
wrote:



Paolo Ulivi wrote:

I have put on my website http://utenti.lycos.it/paoloulivi/sepd.html a
picture of the SEPD Martian parachute prototype and its original
caption (in French and translated in English).


Is it just me, or does this thing look like some outgrowth of MOOSE?

Pat

I think the picture is mislabeled. Why would they test a parachute in
an anechoic chamber? Look at the radar absorbing cones on the walls.
Wouldn't you test a parachute in a wind tunnel?

You would do some some testing in a wind tunnel, some other testing in
an electromagnetic chamber, some more testing in a thermal vacuum
chamber. There is a lot of testing that goes into a spacecraft.

The label says 'resonance chamber' so that particular test was probably
looking at electromagnetic interference (generation of and response
to.) You don't want the rip cord to be pulled when the receiver hears
random static.

That looks more like a folding high gain antenna.

Except that the ribs are straight. A high gain antenna would be more a
paraboloid, with a curved dish rather than a cone.

--
David M. Palmer (formerly @clark.net, @ematic.com)

"David M. Palmer" wrote in message ...
The label says 'resonance chamber' so that particular test was probably
looking at electromagnetic interference (generation of and response
to.) You don't want the rip cord to be pulled when the receiver hears
random static.

Or when the probe tries to phone home.

Except that the ribs are straight. A high gain antenna would be more a
paraboloid, with a curved dish rather than a cone.

I'm guessing that the ribbed structure is actually the backshell of
the heat shield, and that the cylindrical thing is the middle is the
parachute housing.

-jake

Jake McGuire wrote:

I'm guessing that the ribbed structure is actually the backshell of
the heat shield, and that the cylindrical thing is the middle is the
parachute housing.


I sort of assume that also- I can't picture it being stable in this
configuration if it descends cylinder end first.
If that what was intended, then I think the cone would be slanted _away_
from the cylinder.

Pat