Development and Flight Results of NEXST-1 Recovery System

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has developed a supersonic unmanned flight experimental airplane called NEXST-1. The NEXST-1 flight experiment was conducted successfully in Woomera Test Range, South Australia in October 2005. This airplane utilizes a recovery system for soft landing. The recovery system consists of three kinds of parachutes, two airbags and several pyrotechnic devices. The pilot chute is ejected from the aft end of the airplane and deployed at a speed of 100m/s. After the subsequent drogue and main parachute deployment, the velocity of the airplane is decelerated to a terminal velocity of 6.6 m/s. Just after main parachute full opening, the attitude of the airplane is re-orientated from vertical to horizontal posture for landing. Then two airbags inside the body compartments begin to inflate and come out under the body. The landing impact is designed to be below 12G. This paper documents the design, development and flight test results of the recovery system.