Overview of Thermal Protection System (TPS) Manufacturing at NASA’s TPS Facility (TPSF)

Recent Thermal Protection System manufacturing has experienced limitations in number of manufacturing facilities, scarce expertise, and resource constraints that may have a significant effect on mission success within feasible timelines. The Thermal Protection System Facility (TPSF) located at NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has a proven track record of success providing TPS solutions for the US manned spaceflight program spanning from the Space Shuttle Orbiter to the current Orion vehicle poised to return US astronauts to the moon.

This poster aims to demonstrate manufacturing capabilities of the TPSF by showing examples from the Artemis 1 Orion TPS block bonding verification process, which includes adhering blocks of Avcoat to the forebody heatshield and adhering blocks of AETB-8 to the back shell. Additionally, this poster will outline additional TPSF capabilities related to manufacturing and repair of Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) and Thermal Control Systems (TCS) developed working with NASA’s past/present human spaceflight vehicles and commercial vehicles. Under the primary topic area of Thermal Management Systems, this poster primarily expands on TPS manufacturing methods, while giving insight into the design and thermal management subsystems of the Artemis 1 Orion vehicle from a manufacturing perspective.

During the Orion vehicle design, development, and integration phases, the TPSF leveraged technologies, processes, and skills from experiences servicing the Space Shuttle Orbiter to enable successful integration and acceptance testing of the Orion TPS blocks. In particular, the TPSF developed and refined a block bonding verification process for the Orion vehicle heat shield and back shell acceptance.

The TPSF is uniquely positioned to serve the needs of the US warfighter with refined manufacturing methods driven from the exceptional rigor and accuracy required for human spaceflight. Core competencies of the TPSF include ceramic billet fabrication (i.e. AETB-8 for Orion vehicle back shell), machining with non-metallics/composites, CAD/CAM programming, high temperature processing related to application of ceramic/epoxy coatings, ceramic waterproofing, molding manufacturing, and softgoods manufacturing for TPS/TCS. The TPSF is a government-owned contractor operated on-site at NASA Kennedy Space Center in collaboration with NASA Johnson Space Center.