Mars 2020 parachute sets world record: Read how

New Delhi : Recently, NASA broke the record of the fastest inflation in history of a parachute. Yes, it's about the parachute designed for Mars 2020 mission. The 180 pound parachute has become the talk of town, not just among scientists but also for common people.

The third ASPIRE test took place in the early hours of September 7, when the 180-pound parachute billowed out from being a solid cylinder to full inflation in four-tenths of a second. 

The peak load of the nylon, Technora and Kevlar parachute reached almost 70,000 pounds of force during the test.

NASA's parachute-testing series, ASPIRE for Mars 2020 project is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with support from NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, for NASA's Space Science Mission Directorate. NASA's Sounding Rocket Program is based at the agency's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. Northrop Grumman provides mission planning, engineering services and field operations through the NASA Sounding Rocket Operations Contract. NASA's Heliophysics Division manages the sounding-rocket program for the agency.

To inform all, NASA has launched a 58-foot Black Brant IX sounding rocket to Mach 1.8 to fully test the parachute, which will play an integral part in landing the state-of-the-art Mars 2020 rover on the planet in February 2021.