Hypercone Decelerators

Hypercone is a concept for a deployable aerodynamic decelerator that is effective for supersonic, hypersonic and rarified gas flow regimes. Hypercone comprises an inflatable torus connected to the spacecraft by a tension membrane that defines a trailing cone. Hypercone is an aerodynamic decelerator designed to provide deceleration and stabilization in the Martian atmosphere from Mach 3.5 to subsonic conditions. It comprises an inflated torus supporting a conical fabric forward section. Hypercone is fully flexible and can be stowed in a small volume. It is deployed directly attached to the lander.The Hypercone structure is entirely tensile with the exception of the inflatable torus. Straps extend radially from their attachment at the spacecraft’s forebody to the torus. A membrane covers the essentially conic surface generated by the straps. Hypercone fills a gap that exists for decelerating landers on Mars weighing more than 3 MT. All recent landers have relied on Viking-legacy parachutes, which are limited to use below Mach 2.5 and are relatively inefficient above approximately Mach 1.5. Heavy robotic and manned landers must deploy aerodynamic decelerators at Mach 4 and above in order to land on the high plateaus of Mars.Without a new type of supersonic decelerator, the heavier landers needed for Mars exploration will not be possible. A variation on the Hypercone concept provides lift capability with an asymmetric shape and center-of-gravity (c.g.) offset. This is analogous to conventional sphere-cone aeroshells that use trim tabs and/or c.g. offset to achieve L/D of approximately 0.25.