Parafoil

I recall reading that the decision to go with the parafoil was motivated by a desire to increase the number of potential landing locations. ❋ Unknown (2009)

Then he could pull the rip cord high enough that he should be able to pilot the nimble parafoil chute to his destination. ❋ Howard Gordon (2011)

I personally was responsible for arming the pyrotechnics that deployed the parafoil and witnessed every landing of all three atmospheric vehicles. ❋ Unknown (2009)

The control surfaces on it were needed where the X-38 (the one you showed was the first atmospheric one, the aft shape changed with V-131R) had the parafoil for additional steering. ❋ Unknown (2009)

Weight may have also pointed to the decision to go with the parafoil, would a full-scale CRV have had an excessive (for lifting bodies) landing speed? ❋ Unknown (2009)

These days we're dropping beans to troops on steerable parafoil style parachues. ❋ Unknown (2009)

As for lifting bodies, once someone understands that runway landings are stupid at this kind of velocity and go for parafoil/chute landing, a la Klipper, then there will be hope. ❋ Unknown (2009)

He gripped the guidance handles of his parafoil and directed himself toward the far edge of the outcropping. ❋ Richard Doetsch (2010)

The parafoil spread above him, capturing the air and guiding it across its airfoils, allowing Michael to control his descent and direction as if he were flying. ❋ Richard Doetsch (2010)

Take a huge oceanic catamaran, stick a hydroelectric turbine underneath it, and hitch it to a 6.5 million-square-foot parafoil flying nearly a mile in the air. ❋ Unknown (2010)

"There was no drogue chute or parafoil," said a JPL spokesman. ❋ Unknown (2004)

In March, Brooklyn-based defense contractor Atair Aerospace announced the first successful demonstration of flocking and swarming techniques in a UAV, after dropping five computer-guided Onyx parafoil gliders in an experiment funded by the U.S. Army. The company says the parafoils can be released from 35,000 feet, autonomously glide as a flock for 30 miles, then land together within 150 feet of a preprogrammed target. ❋ Unknown (2005)