Supersonic parachutes are terrible. Notice that supersonic aircraft air intakes involve ramps (F-15, Concorde, XB-70, F-14), shock cones (SR-71, MiG-21), or div

Supersonic parachutes are terrible. Notice that supersonic aircraft air intakes involve ramps (F-15, Concorde, XB-70, F-14), shock cones (SR-71, MiG-21), or diverterless supersonic inlet (F-35, FC-1 Xiaolong). Simple round openings, without a central spike, do not work well at all. It's bad news for parachute design before even thinking about the problems of parachute lines and the need to withstand shock waves as the geometry rapidly changes while unfolding. The right solution is probably the ballute. SpaceX, Rocket Lab, Armadillo Aerospace, and Copenhagen Suborbitals have all been investigating ballutes in recent years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballute https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballute