The testing phase is almost the most important in a project. The results obtained during the tests will determinate the success or the failure.

Maybe it is not necessary to test the parachute bougth in a shop. However, when you make one by yourself it is advisable. Since we don’t have the same materials (as well as experience) we will not be able to know if the parachute will work properly or not. Geometry, materials, the way to sew… All these things have influence in the fligth.

First of all, we should think what we want to check and what kind of equipment we need. For example, we could make a resistance test producing high speed gusts of wind and registering with a dynamometer the magnitud of the forces. We also could study the parachute’s descent with different weigths and altitudes. Is there any relationship among the weigth, the descent velocity and the deviation from the launch place?

Here it is a video of a group of students testing their CanSat parachute with an octocopter:

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