Pre-launch separation test for UVA's Sabre 1

Prior to launching Sabre 1, members of UVA Rocketry, a student-run club at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science, performed a separation test to ensure the main parachute would deploy, landing the rocket safely.
A small black powder charge ignited by electric current is used to create enough pressure in the parachute chamber to shear it away from the nose cone.
Video taken by University of Virginia professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering Michael McPherson.