ARD, home
A red and white parachute lies spread over low scrub, with a red rocket body section on the ground further back.
SYS-RCRecovery· 2018–2026

Recovery

Parachute systems that bring every rocket home, from black powder to CO2 pyro-pneumatics.

01Overview

What it does

Kronos uses single-separation, dual-deployment recovery: a 60 cm drogue at apogee, then a TD2 tether release frees the 200 cm main at 1,225 ft. The primary ejection is a custom pyro-pneumatic device with a 45 g CO2 canister, with black powder as backup.

02Lineage

How it evolved

Each step built on the last, rocket by rocket.

  1. 2018

    CO2 ejection planned

    Skyreach's recovery plan called for a 3 ft drogue, a 16 ft main at about 2,000 ft and CO2 ejection.

    Flown onSkyreach

  2. 2020

    Dual deployment for 30,000 ft

    Trident Mk.2 planned a 24" elliptical drogue and a 96" toroidal main at 1,000 ft.

    Flown onTrident Mk.2

  3. 2024

    First SRAD dual deployment

    The May 2024 L2 prototype carried out a successful dual deployment from ARD's own flight computer. Ground testing led the team to adopt dog-barf wadding after failed separations.

    Flown onL2 Prototype

  4. 2025

    Level 3 dual deployment

    Myriad flew a 68 cm drogue at apogee and a 200 cm main at 400 m, with black powder charges and Nomex fire blankets.

    Flown onProject Myriad

  5. 2025

    Pneumatic trial

    Lightning planned a pneumatic deployment device, then dropped it and flew black powder dual deployment.

    Flown onProject Lightning

  6. 2026

    CO2 pyro-pneumatic, single separation

    Kronos packs both parachutes side by side for a single separation. A TD2 tether releases the main, and a CO2 pyro-pneumatic device is the primary ejection, backed by black powder.

    Flown onProject Kronos

03Flown on

The rockets

All rockets
Close-up of a red and white parachute canopy lying on red soil among small white wildflowers.
Close-up of black recovery webbing joined by a steel quick link and swivel to a small black electronic unit with coloured wires, lying in dry grass.
A group of team members stands behind the recovered Myriad rocket and its red and white parachute on red desert ground.
Recovery, AURC 2025.

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