PASDA — A tool to design atmospheric descent bodies with parachutes

Abstract PASDA (Parachute System Design and Analysis Tool) is an unique integrated software package, funded by ESA, to design and analyse parachute based systems for space related applications and to provide the environment for collecting and storing parachute related information. PASDA supports future space science mission studies, where parachute systems are an essential part of the mission concept. Based on a sophisticated database of parachute related information for projects requiring descent in a planetary atmosphere, it assists the user in the selection, performance evaluation and specification of a parachute system for a specific mission. PASDA combines very different functions: trajectory simulation, parachute design and analysis, database tasks, graphical output, a sophisticated user interface, user guidance and software code to combine all functions. The parachute design package allows sizing of all parachute components e.g. canopy, lines, mortar, stowage volume, materials to be used, weight, etc. according to the loads derived in deployment and inflation analyses. Specific (parachute) knowledge is required to work efficiently with PASDA. However the integration of the different modules allows to let the computer perform the painstaking work of transforming outputs of one module into inputs for the next one and archiving results as numbers with description and graphics. Thus it provides an efficient integrated design and analysis approach to parachute system decelerators for studies of future space missions.