Parachute colors, what do they mean?

[Dave Kerbin]

When you deploy a parachute (space) the parachute icon in staging turns to several colors (Cyan, Yellow, Red, Green that I've noticed so far).

What colors are there and what do they mean? Can the colors tell me if my chute is weakened and will rip apart when it fully deploys at 500m?

Edited August 19, 2013 by Dave Kerbin

[Cartz]

White is undeployed

Cyan is predeployed - it will semi-deploy once the minimum atmospheric pressure requirements are met

Yellow is semi-deployed - applies semi-deployed drag

Green is fully deployed - applies fully-deployed drag

Red is broken/spent. You can repack red chutes by EVAing a kerbal and right clicking on the chute when you're near it.

Edit: as far as I know, chutes cannot fail when they fully deploy. If the opening shock is too great, the craft will undergo rapid unplanned disassembly, but the chutes will remain intact.

[Kimberly]

I believe they correspond to the state of the parachutes--undeployed, semi-deployed, fully deployed, and spent (after landing). I'm not sure which color is which, however.

Whether your ship tears apart when the parachutes fully deployed has nothing to do with the parachute itself, it depends on how fast you are going and under how much your craft weighs--that determines the force with which you slow down, f = m * a and all that.

[Rhomphaia]

They indicate the deployment state. Cyan means the parachute is active but there is not enough atmospheric pressure to deploy.

When you get to the required pressure the chute will partially deploy and the icon will turn yellow.

When you hit the full deployment altitude above ground level the parachute will fully open and the icon will turn green.

If you cut the parachute the icon will turn red. Parachute will automatically cut when you hit the ground or 0m/s vertical speed.

[toejam]

I hadn't played in a while but apparently one of the new features is that the program puts a red background on the parachute symbols when it is unsafe to deploy them.  This should not be confused with a red parachute symbol meaning that the parachute has been used or broken.  Anyway, it gave me a little scare after a long trip.

[Snark]

Be careful, there are two sets of colors.  There's the foreground color (i.e. the color of the little parachute icon itself), and then there's the background color (the color of the button that the parachute icon is on).

When someone says "what does it mean when it's red", ya gotta be specific-- "the icon is red" doesn't mean the same thing as "the background is red."

The colors of the icon itself (i.e. foreground color) are as Cartz described.  White means not deployed yet, cyan is "armed" (i.e. will go to semi-deployed state as soon as pressure is high enough), yellow is "semi-deployed, will fully deploy as soon as within the elevation limit", red is "done".

The colors of the button background are a new feature added in 1.0.5.  Before 1.0.5, this wasn't a thing, the background was always the same color.  With 1.0.5, the button background indicates "safety level" while you're moving through the atmosphere.  Red = unsafe, your parachutes will be instantly ripped off if you deploy them.  Yellow = risky, you may or may not be okay.  The default gray = it's safe, you can deploy them without a problem.

[Claw]

While valid, I think Dave probably answered his question two years ago (or more). Time for this thread to sleep.