National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASAfacts
Space Technology
Game Changing Development
ADEPT SR-1 Flight Experiment
NASA’s future missions will require ever-greater
mass delivery capability in order to place sci-
entifically significant instrument packages on
distant bodies of interest, to facilitate sample
returns from them, and to enable future human
exploration of Mars. The Adaptable, Deploy-
able Entry and Placement Technology Sound-
ing Rocket 1 (ADEPT SR-1) project is devel-
oping a mechanically deployable low-ballistic
coefficient aeroshell entry system to perform
entry, descent and landing (EDL) functions for
planetary missions.
The ADEPT architecture represents a com-
pletely new approach for entry vehicle design
using a high-performance carbon fabric to
serve as the primary drag surface of the me-
chanically deployed decelerator and to pro-
tect the payload from hypersonic aerothermal
heating during entry. The initial system-level
development of the “nano-ADEPT” architec-
ture will culminate in the launch of a 0.7-m
deployed diameter ADEPT sounding rocket
flight experiment. The SR-1 sounding rocket
flight experiment is a critical milestone in the
technology maturation plan for ADEPT and
will generate performance data on in-space
deployment and aerodynamic stability.
The ADEPT project team is advancing this de-
celerator technology via systems-level testing
at the 1-m diameter, or nano-ADEPT, scale.
A subsonic aeroloads test (May 2015) and
an arc-jet aeroheating test (Sept. 2015) have
already been completed. A successful SR-1
flight experiment will bring the 1-m-class nano-
ADEPT to technology readiness level (TRL) 5,
achieving component or breadboard valida-
tion in a relevant environment.
Top: A flight-like ADEPT being tested in a subsonic
wind tunnel. Bottom: A flight-like ADEPT skirt being
tested in an arc-jet flow.
