Heat Flux and Pressure Envelope Expansion Tests of Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA)Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) is a frequently employed thermal protection system (TPS) material in the space flight community. First flown on the forebody of Stardust, which re-entered in January of 2006, PICA has been the go-to material system for each successive Martian rover mission. This legacy continues with PICA domestic (PICA-D) baselined for the Mars Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL) and Dragon-fly, a mission to Titan’s surface.
In mission planning, the capability of a TPS material system is restricted to environments that are proven through ground testing or flight missions. De-spite the range of destinations from Earth return to Mars entry to Saturn moons, PICA’s demonstrated capability currently covers heating rates less than 1800 W/cm2 and surface pressures less than 150 kPa [1]. These recognized limitations prevent PICA for consideration in direct entry applications at Venus, the outer planets, and high mass return missions at Earth, thus requiring selecting higher density materials [2].
Document ID
20230007390
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Presentation
Authors
J. D. Williams (Analytical Mechanics Associates (United States) Hampton, Virginia, United States)
B. J. Libben (Ames Research Center Mountain View, California, United States)
J. D. Morgan (Ames Research Center Mountain View, California, United States)
T. Gökçen (Analytical Mechanics Associates (United States) Hampton, Virginia, United States)
Date Acquired
May 11, 2023
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing and Performance
Meeting Information
Meeting: 20th International Planetary Probe Workshop (IPPW 2023)