“Well if the chutes don’t open, what’s the point?”
---- Ken Mattingly, Apollo 13
Making chutes can either be one of the quickest or longest phases of making a rocket, depending on the complexity. To compete in the Advanced Category of IREC (as of Aug. 2016), making a chute is required. Below we detail how the chutes, deployment bag, and risers for Therion were made.
Kelly! Zach! Help!
Planning geometry
Cutting the gores
Assembling the gores
#somanyshroudlines
Deployment Bag for Parafoil
Risers
The risers were made of 1” REI climbing rope, rated to 22 kN. The ends were sewn in a “box and X” pattern as shown, leaving a small loop for the quicklink to attach to.
Shielding
Something about Nomex shielding…