Why parachute's drag changes depending of the part orientation?

[m4v]

Parachutes have some drag noise built into them so their drag coefficient are always changing, however depending of the part orientation you can see that their average drag (and terminal speed) changes. This might come as nitpicking but I thought their drag was dependant of their canopies?

 

edit: oops, wanted to post this in the technical support forum.

Edited December 4, 2015 by m4v

[Redhaze]

Hmmmh. interesting. For optimal testing, you might want to repeat that test, but this time with the parachutes on each arm a different orientation. That way you should get a balance-scales effect if the difference really is that big.

[m4v]

You can only do that without changing the lever arm with the radials.

[Claw]

Well, the base part orientation also plays a factor in the drag (because the case itself has drag). Though I don't think it ought to be as big as what you are showing. So quite possibly there are some issues with the orientation code for the cubes.