Heatshield design for transatmospheric vehiclesA variety of future spacecraft will be operating above the sensible earth atmosphere, but will be dipping into the atmosphere to utilize aerodynamic forces in conjunction with propulsion for its major maneuvers such as plane change. During this maneuver, the vehicle surface will experience high aerodynamic heating rates. Because these heating rates can exceed those experienced by the Shuttle, advanced thermal protection systems (TPS) must be used. This paper compares the performance of four TPS concepts operating in the same heating environment. All of them can be considered as derivatives from the development process of the TPS for the Shuttle; one has a new feature added. The results show that all of the systems require about the same weight of heatshield at high heat loads. The major difference in the weight stems from the methods of attachment to the spacecraft.
Document ID
19860055223
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Pitts, W. C. (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Murbach, M. S. (Sterling Software, Inc. Palo Alto, CA, United States)