Topics
Latest
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:SpaceX
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Image Credits:SpaceX
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
initiative
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
Gadgets
Gaming
Government & Policy
Hardware
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
Security
societal
Space
Startups
TikTok
shipping
speculation
More from TechCrunch
upshot
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
SpaceX is know for its erect integration , but one component it ’s been outsourcing is parachutes — until earlier this calendar month , when the company quietly acquired parachute vendor Pioneer Aerospace after its parent company went bankrupt . The Informationfirst reportedthe news show .
This is the second have it away acquirement for SpaceX , whichacquired small satellite inauguration Swarmin 2021 for a $ 524 million mostly - stock deal . Pioneer is amount much more cheaply : SpaceX has snapped it up for just $ 2.2 million , according to a bankruptcy filing by Pioneer ’s parent company in Florida .
Pioneer provides the drogue chute for SpaceX ’s Dragon capsules , the ballistic capsule line that NASA uses to transport cargo and astronauts to and from the International Space Station . Drogue chute are extremely advanced components design for high velocity ; in the case of Dragon , the chute deploys after the ejection seat has reentered through much of the atmosphere , to stabilize the spacecraft and retard it down a little bit . According to NASA , the two drogues deploy when the Dragon is at 18,000 feet in altitude , moving at around 350 mi per hr . ( The main chute are deploy later during reentry , at around 6,000 feet in elevation ; SpaceX buys those from Airborne Systems . )
Saving a marketer from dissolving — which would ’ve likely been Pioneer ’s fate , given the failure of its parent troupe — seems like a strong gesture on the part of SpaceX. But that just points to the tangible trouble of make parachutes designed to survive such high speeds .
“ Space is hard , but space parachutes are much backbreaking , ” Abhi Tripathi , director of mission surgical procedure at UC Berkeley ’s Space Sciences Laboratory , say in a recent audience . “ It ’s pretty much among the hardest things , other than a very complex propulsion arrangement , to make . ”
He should know : Tripathi ’s vocation includes a 10 - yr least sandpiper at SpaceX , where he was director of Dragon missions and director of flight reliability for the Dragon capsule , and about 10 years at NASA , where he worked as a lead aerospace systems engineer .
While SpaceX is famously recognize for insourcing factor , Tripathi say he ’s been in meeting with CEO Elon Musk who determines when to outsource based on two factor : that the supplier is not “ a complete , incompetent moron ” ( Tripathi was paraphrasing Musk here ) , and that SpaceX can commit that the supplier can bear on schedule .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
“ When one or both of those criteria fails , is when SpaceX decides to ask the hard query : Can we insource this ? Can we vertically integrate it into our product line ? ” Tripathi explained .
The knowledge and power to manufacture such small - bulk , technically sophisticated product is hard to replicate quickly — certainly not at the time - scales SpaceX required when it was evidence Dragon . It ’s true that SpaceX was heavily involved in the engineering of those drogue shoots — Tripathi pointed me toa recent paperauthored by current and former SpaceX engineers on on the nose that , and said that SpaceX extensively essay the parachutes itself — the company ultimately looked outward for fabrication . Hence the deals with Pioneer and Airborne .
“ It ’s not a science , it ’s an art , and it takes lots of testing , ” Tripathi said . “ Unless you have the chapiter to do a farseeing testing drive and really understand the sand of every little part of your parachute system — the linkage , the gores , the reef channel , the stringer — unless you have a very dedicated mental test computer programme , you ’re not going to translate your own parachute well enough to love the weak parts of your parachute arrangement . ”
Update : The clause in the beginning stated that the wind sleeve parachutes are deploy when the Dragon is moving at orbital speed . It has been corrected to reflect that the air sock chutes deploy after atmospheric reentry .
Read more on TechCrunch :
