Mars Science Laboratory - Backshell Interface Plate and Parachute Support Structure Subsystem

Mars Science Laboratory is a scientific mission to deliver a rover with ten science instruments to the surface of Mars. In order to accomplish this, a cruise stage and entry vehicle, which is comprised of an aeroshell and descent stage, are used. The backshell interface plate (BIP) interfaces to the backshell, the cruise stage and the descent stage. Also attached to the BIP is the parachute support structure (PSS) which interfaces to both structure and soft goods of the parachute deceleration system. The primary function of the BIP and PSS is to anchor all of these major subsystems together and provide the structural load paths necessary to support the launch, entry, mortar fire, and parachute inflation loads. The key challenges for this hardware lie in the complex configuration, several unique load cases, multiple load paths, and the magnitude of the loads. This paper will describe the design of the backshell interface plate and parachute support structure as well as the key challenges and how they were met.