From Paper Play to Space Exploration: How Kirigami Parachutes are Shaping the Future of Drone Delivery and Humanitarian Aid - The Impact of Japanese Tradition on Science

While browsing the timeline at night, I came across this video――

A water-filled plastic bottle drops smoothly from a drone.
What hangs from it doesn't look like a regular fabric parachute but rather a "round thin plate."
The moment it catches air, it transforms into a vase-like lace basket and falls "straight" down.

"Wait, how does this work?" "A parachute made from paper cutting art?!"
On X and TikTok, such astonished posts are gradually going viral.

The secret behind this mysterious parachute is a new design inspired by the Japanese paper cutting art "kirigami."
Developed by a research team at Polytechnique Montréal in Canada, this hot research was just published in the scientific journal Nature in October 2025.Science News Explores

Kirigami: Not just folding paper, but cutting it

While origami is widely known, the star here is "kirigami."
Unlike origami, which involves only folding, kirigami involves cutting folded paper to create three-dimensional shapes through cut patterns.

The research team used a disc of very thin gold-colored plastic film called "Mylar."
They inserted concentric slits (cuts) from the center outward, offsetting them.Science News Explores

At first glance, it looks like just a "hole-filled disc," but when a weight is attached and dropped, its true value is revealed.
The disc, catching air, has its slit parts rise, transforming into a fine lattice "vase-shaped net."
This shape creates air resistance (drag), slowing down the fall of the cargo.Science News Explores

"No matter how you throw it, it falls straight down" - the mysterious stability

Mechanical engineer David Melanson, who conducted the experiment,
said, "No matter the orientation when thrown, it automatically corrects its posture and falls straight down."Science News Explores

Ordinary fabric parachutes sway significantly left and right as they fall due to how they open and wind effects.
For parachutes carried by people, this "side drift" can sometimes enhance safety, but
in scenarios where you want to drop supplies at a designated point, this sway becomes a significant issue.

The kirigami parachute forms a three-dimensional shape by "extending" from a flat disc,
making it easy for the center axis of the weight and parachute to align perfectly, and the air flow tends to be symmetrical.
Therefore, even if slightly tilted when thrown, air resistance automatically corrects its posture,
resulting in it falling "almost straight down" in a trajectory similar to a ballistic missile.Science News Explores

A 1 kg water bottle from 60 meters above

How effective is it in reality?
The research team conducted a test by suspending a 1-kilogram water bottle from a 50 cm diameter kirigami parachute
and dropping it from a drone at a height of 60 meters.Science News Explores

The result――

• Without parachute: terminal velocity about 34 m/s (approximately 122 km/h)

• With kirigami parachute: maximum speed about 14 m/s (approximately 50 km/h)

Thanks to air resistance, the fall speed is less than half.

Although the numbers still seem fast, it is a sufficiently practical level for cargo,
and when combined with cushioning materials on the ground, it could safely deliver food and medicine.

A parachute full of holes? ― The story of drag

"Wouldn't it fall faster with so many holes?"
This is a common question seen on social media.

In reality, the kirigami parachute has less air resistance than a fabric parachute of the same size,
and to safely drop the same weight, a more "gigantic" umbrella is needed.Science News Explores

Nevertheless, the research team deliberately chose a hole-filled design because

• it offers high stability(less sway, less rotation)

• and is easy to manufacture(no sewing or complex folding required)

These are the advantages.

The drag a falling object receives from the air is roughly determined by

Drag ≒ Shape × Speed² × Air Density

With holes, drag decreases, but by increasing the shape, it can be offset――

This is the trade-off it is based on.

Incidentally, to safely lower a "human" using the same mechanism,

a gigantic parachute "about the size of two football fields placed side by side" would be required.
Science News Explores
That's obviously not realistic, so its use is considered exclusively for "cargo."

Reasons it could become a cheap and eco-friendly parachute

Another strength is its potential to be "cheap and eco-friendly."

Traditional fabric parachutes require
durable fabric
long ropes
complex sewing
and folding to open neatly
making both manufacturing and operation somewhat costly.

On the other hand, the kirigami parachute

• only requires laser cutting a pattern into a single sheet

• Materials can include Mylar, paper, cardboard, or cheap plastic

• Even if disposed of, paper or cardboard can be easily recycled or biodegraded

These are its characteristics.

Currently, there are challenges such as the high cost of laser cutters and the time it takes to make one sheet, but
if a mass production process is established in the future,
a day may come when "parachutes for humanitarian aid are mass-produced from 100-yen store construction paper."

For space exploration too? A version that spins while falling

The research team is considering not only the "straight-down" pattern but also a design that spins like a maple seed while falling.
Science News Explores

By attaching a camera to a parachute that spins while falling,
it can descend while capturing a 360-degree view as it passes through the atmosphere of planets or moons.
There are many celestial bodies like Mars, Venus with its thick atmosphere, and Titan, where "falling while observing" is desirable.

The combination of "paper cutting art × space exploration" is quite a romantic one.

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Reactions on social media (※Image summary)

※The following is not a direct quote from actual posts but a summary of typical reactions seen on social media.

1. Education & Independent Research Cluster

• "This would win a primary school science project. It seems doable by just cutting an A4 clear file."

• "I was bad at physics, but this video instantly made me understand 'air resistance.'"

• "Science teachers, please add this to the must-do experiment list for the next class."

The familiar theme of kirigami and the simple question of "Why does it fall straight down?" are a perfect match.

Many voices suggest it could be used as a "STEAM educational material" connecting arts and sciences.

2. Disaster Prevention & Logistics Cluster

• "If drone delivery adopts this, landing accuracy could significantly improve."

• "It would be great if it could be used for mountain rescue or delivering aid to isolated communities."

• "But if used in large quantities, it could become a waste problem. The material should definitely be bio-based."

Here, discussions are active from a practical perspective of "cheap and accurate delivery methods."

Particularly, there is attention on the potential to "deliver aid and medical supplies with pinpoint accuracy" during disasters.

On the other hand, there are also critical questions from a field perspective, such as "How much wind can it withstand?" and "Can it really land on target in complex terrain?"

The high hurdles to implementation are also being acknowledged.

3. Space & Science Fan Cluster

• "Couldn't this be used as is for Mars exploration?"

• "It feels like 'foldable sensors' from sci-fi are getting closer to reality."

• "The era of mapping planetary atmospheres with kirigami is exciting."

Especially, the imagination is expanding that the "spinning while falling version" might be well-suited for space exploration,

and future visions like "scattering a fleet of kirigami equipped with observation instruments from above and collecting data simultaneously" are being discussed.

4. Art & Design Cluster

"It could also work as an installation piece."
"I'd love to see skirts or dresses using this structure in a fashion show."
It's interesting that kirigami, originally an art form, is being welcomed back into the art world.

Technology that oscillates between "functional beauty" and "aesthetic beauty