Parachute

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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 deploy, 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
(Funds)
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.png
Mk16 Parachute Tiny 422 0.1 2 500 12 50 0.8 20.7 0.04 1 000
Mk16-XL Parachute.png
Mk16-XL Parachute Small 850 0.3 2 500 12 50 2.5 51.2 0.04 1 000
Mk2-R Parachute.png
Mk2-R Radial-Mount Parachute Radial mounted 400 0.1 2 500 12 50 1.6 41.3 0.04 1 000
Mk25 Parachute.png
Mk25 Parachute Small 400 0.2 2 500 12 50 0.9 6.3 0.02 2 500
Mk12-R Radial-Mount Drogue Chute.png
Mk12-R Radial-Mount Drogue Chute Radial mounted 150 0.075 2 500 12 50 1.3 7.7 0.02 2 500
  1. 1.0 1.1 This setting is tweakable


Deployment

Parachutes deploy at different altitudes on different bodies, depending on the local atmospheric pressure. Rough deployment altitudes (rounded to the nearest 100m) are shown below. Note that full deployment depends on height above ground, not pressure. Full-deploy altitudes can be found in the above table.

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