Abstract: “Measurement of terminal velocity of aerodynamic decelerators is of paramount importance for their optimal design. In this paper, various methods being used for terminal velocity measurement and their pros and cons are discussed in brief. It also presents a novel instrumented plumb line method for terminal velocity measurement. The details of implementation of proposed scheme of terminal velocity measurement and test results are also discussed in this paper.”

Keywords: Aerodynamic decelerator, Strain Gauge, load Link, Terminal Velocity, Rate of descent