Comment Re:The Parachute Will Work (Score 4, Interesting) 55
The parachute that brought the latest rover to Mars also disintegrated during testing. However NASA proceeded with the design knowing that the atmosphere on Mars is not nearly as dense as it is on Earth.
They got it working in testing after that initial failure - and even that failure provided extremely useful high-speed video of its deployment.
Note the colossal wind tunnel. This latest, flying saucer tested parachute is way larger than that Curiosity parachute - so they've figured out a whole new testing regime. One that helpfully more closely matches conditions in the Martian atmosphere, too.