Our experience has placed us on the cutting-edge of parachutes and support hardware assessments. We are an industry leader in calculating fabric joint strength, opening loads, component loads and asymmetries within a parachute.

Deceleration and Recovery Systems
Our Deceleration and Recovery Systems is uniquely experienced in parachute engineering analysis, design, manufacturing and assembly operations, as well as critical quality and testing processes. Our design and manufacture work contributed to the world record for heaviest parachute payload recovery from a C-17. We have key manufacturers and suppliers to provide everything needed to meet your unique requirements.

Analysis and End-to End Design
United Space Alliance designs and analyzes parachute systems throughout the development process. We start with preliminary parachute sizing, parachute shape selection, material selection and payload descent rate selection. Then, we move to, identifying drop test analysis targets, drop test trajectory design, test supporting hardware design, post-test data analysis and complete analysis documentation. We end , concluding with anomaly investigations and analytical solutions that supporting parachutes already in service. Using industry-standard and custom analysis tools, we can determine both global environmental loads acting on the parachute system and local component loads acting within the parachutes or hardware support structure. Let us provide innovative solutions to your parachute analysis needs.

Unique Tool Development
United Space Alliance has developed numerous tools to support drop tests. This includes "Paradrop," which uses the Matlab, thereby allowing the engineer to design a drop- test trajectory and determine a safe aircraft release point.

Flight Systems Experience

• Pre-test/flight loads analysis & trajectory analysis
• Accurate flight mechanics and trajectory analysis
• Eight successful ares drop tests for parachute testing
• Successful Ares I-X first stage recovery
• Flight mechanics modeling for re-entry, separation systems, and parachute operation

Flight Systems Testing

• Test planning and logistics
• Pretest trajectory analysis
• Experience to meet test performance objectives
• Advanced instrumentation
• Post-test data analysis
• Loads determination for pre- and post-Test analysis

Multidiscipline Integration

• Parachute analysis and design
• Mechanical component Dsign
• Structural analysis and design
• Aerodynamics and CFD analysis
• Thermal analysis for re-entry
• Flight mechanics
• Trajectory analysis
• Parachute and payload trajectory
• Systems test planning
• Test instrumentation

Analysis

• Parachute bag retention systems - preloaded, tension only elements, non-linear material properties.
• Canopy structural elements -- CALA (Canopy Loads Analysis used for verification on Ares
• Structural analysis of metallic components
• ANSYS
• Abaqus
• NASTRAN
• ADAMS
• Custom FE models
• Structural analysis for fabrics
• Parachute load predictions