Difference between revisions of "Parachute"

Revision as of 14:50, 8 May 2013

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Parachutes are parts that when deployed slow down the speed of a craft in an atmosphere by creating drag.

Usage

Parachutes are commonly used on bodies with thick atmospheres (Kerbin, Eve) to slow the craft to a landing. They can also be used on bodies with thinner atmospheres (Duna, Laythe) to assist the landing engines. Parachutes can also be used to aid with aerobraking to create additional drag.

Parachutes require a minimum air pressure to deply, so they won't work in a vacuum. In addition, parachutes are jettisoned automatically on the ground and so can't be used to, for example, aid in slowing landing aircraft once they are on the runway.

Parts

There are currently four options for parachutes.

Image	Part	Radial size	Cost ()	Mass (t)	Max. Temp. (K)	Tolerance (m/s)	Tolerance (g)	Semi-Deployed Diameter	Fully Deployed Diameter	Semi-Deploy Pressure (atm) [Note 1]	Full-Deploy Altitude (m AGL) [Note 1]
	Mk16 Parachute	Tiny	422	0.1	2 500	12	50	0.8	20.7	0.04	1 000
	Mk16-XL Parachute	Small	850	0.3	2 500	12	50	2.5	51.2	0.04	1 000
	Mk2-R Radial-Mount Parachute	Radial mounted	400	0.1	2 500	12	50	1.6	41.3	0.04	1 000
	Mk25 Parachute	Small	400	0.2	2 500	12	50	0.9	6.3	0.02	2 500
	Mk12-R Radial-Mount Drogue Chute	Radial mounted	150	0.075	2 500	12	50	1.3	7.7	0.02	2 500

Deployment

Parachutes deploy at different altitudes on different bodies, depending on the atmosphere. Rough deployment altitudes (rounded to the nearest 100m) are shown below.

		Semi-Deployment Altitude (m)
Image	Part	Eve	Kerbin	Duna	Jool	Laythe
	Mk16 Parachute	44 226	20 004	10 689	126 238	25 146
	Mk16-XL Parachute	44 226	20 004	10 689	126 238	25 146
	Mk2-R Radial-Mount Parachute	44 226	20 004	10 689	126 238	25 146
	Mk25 Parachute	46 315	23 547	14 912	134 228	31 829
	Mk12-R Radial-Mount Drogue Chute	46 315	23 547	14 912	134 228	31 829