NASA tests inflatable heat shield
Posted: Wed, Aug 19, 2009, 7:37 AM ET (1137 GMT)
A NASA suborbital rocket tested Monday an inflatable heat shield that could reduce the weight of future reentry capsules. The Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE) was flown on a Black Brant 9 suborbital rocket from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Monday morning. The 3-meter inflatable heat shield deployed in 90 seconds after the payload reached an altitude of about 200 kilometers. NASA officials said the shield worked as planned during its descent through the atmosphere to splashdown in the Atlantic. Inflatable heat shields could be used on future Mars missions, where mass is at a premium
A NASA suborbital rocket tested Monday an inflatable heat shield that could reduce the weight of future reentry capsules. The Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE) was flown on a Black Brant 9 suborbital rocket from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Monday morning. The 3-meter inflatable heat shield deployed in 90 seconds after the payload reached an altitude of about 200 kilometers. NASA officials said the shield worked as planned during its descent through the atmosphere to splashdown in the Atlantic. Inflatable heat shields could be used on future Mars missions, where mass is at a premium
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Sunday, March 22
Isar Aerospace secures first active debris removal mission with Astroscale
Isar Aerospace — 5:50 pm ET (2150 GMT) Voyager Awarded Multi-Million-Dollar NASA Contract
Voyager Space — 5:44 pm ET (2144 GMT) What 'Project Hail Mary' gets right about microbes
Michigan State Univ. — 5:43 pm ET (2143 GMT) BlackSky wins seven-figure Assured extension contract with international customer
Black Sky — 5:42 pm ET (2142 GMT) Extremely Rare Second-Generation Star Discovered Inside Ancient Relic Dwarf Galaxy
National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory — 5:42 pm ET (2142 GMT) |
