Develops New Vehicle
BFG Gives Space Research A Boost
Space research has a new tool today, thanks to an inflatable paraglider developed by B. F. Goodrich Aerospace and Defense Products.
The boomerang-shaped, batlike vehicle combines characteristics of both parachute and glider. It will be rocket-launched soon for its first flight test at White Sands Proving Grounds, N. M.
ITS MAIN purpose is to measure the number and size of micrometeoroid particles in
space — information vital to the manned lunar landing program.
First flight also will test the paraglider concept for use as a reentry vehicle to recover multi-million-dollar first stage boosters of space vehicles that burn up on entering the atmosphere,
Accordion-folded for launching, the vehicle fits into a cylinder 13 inches in diameter and 33 inches long. Inflated in space, it has a wing spread of 18 feet and is 14 feet long.
BFG engineers developed a special high temperature fabric lamination for the inflatable frame, combining glass fiber with a silicone resin coating.
"BAT - WING" membranes, or sails, are covered with micrometeoroid sensors that measure their impact and depth of penetration.
Paraglider's pay load is carried at the bottom of a vertical inflatable tube. During reentry, cameras observe the vehicle's behavior and a beacon permits tracking.
In the test, the glider will remain in space above 400,000 feet for five minutes and will make its reentry at a speed of about 5,500 feet a second.
Space-General Corp. of El Monte, Cal., is the prime contractor on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's paraglider program.
