Samples of NASA parachute fabric made by Heathcoat Fabrics for Mars2020

These are two samples of the fabric developed and produced by Heathcoat Fabrics Limited specifically for use in NASA’s Mars2020 mission parachute. The fabric is a high tenacity nylon 66 with heat and UV protection, plus a silicone finish. The samples (one orange, one white) are being offered as a gift by Peter Hill, Director of Woven Fabrics at Heathcoat Fabrics Limited.

Mars2020 is Mars rover mission operated by NASA. It consists of the Mars rover Perseverance and the helicopter Ingenuity. The objectives of Mars2020 centre around the habitability of Mars, and evidence of ancient microbial life. Suites of instruments fitted on the spacecraft are used for a variety of experiments, including analysis of atmospheric processes, characterisation of surface radiation, and identification of current cycling water and carbon dioxide. The rover successfully landed at the Jezero crater on 18 February 2021. Perseverance is the largest object to have been delivered to the Martian surface, and Ingenuity was used for the first ever demonstration of powered, controlled flight on another world.

Heathcoat Fabrics Limited is a specialist high performance textiles development company based in Tiverton, Devon, UK. They develop and produce engineered technical textiles for a variety of applications and sectors, including aerospace, healthcare, firefighter protection, and defence. They offer both off-the-shelf and bespoke textiles.

In 2016, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) approached Heathcoat Fabrics regarding higher performance parachute fabric than the generic industry standard that had been used on previous missions (PIA-C-7020) due to concerns over poor heat ageing and insufficient load capabilities. After several phone calls and site visits, including NASA auditing and approving Heathcoat’s production facilities, development of the new fabric (G-60315-Q01) commenced. The development stage took 16 weeks, followed by 6 weeks for production.

The two colours used, Natural White and International Orange, were used to encode a message into the parachute. Decoded, the pattern reads ‘DARE MIGHTY THING’, which is the motto of NASA’s JPL, along with the coordinates of their lab at the California Institute of Technology.