Aviation Week reports that at the close of the upcoming “Artemis I test flight, an uncrewed Orion capsule will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere faster and hotter than any previous human spacecraft, validating the heat shield’s ability to protect astronauts returning from the Moon and eventually Mars.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Tag: Heat Shield
Inflatable Heat Shield Could Help Humans Land on Mars
Aerospace America reports that at the AIAA’s ASCEND event in Las Vegas, NASA announced that its Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator is ready to go into space on November 1. “Plans call for launching LOFTID into orbit as a rideshare payload on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V together with a NOAA weather satellite.” This technology could eventually aid large equipment to land on Mars, especially for future crewed missions.
Full Story (Aerospace America)
SpaceX to Replace Heat Shield on Next Crew Dragon Launch
Space News reports that SpaceX “will replace the heat shield on the next Crew Dragon spacecraft flying to the International Space Station after it failed inspections, but NASA says there is no risk of a similar problem for the spacecraft currently at the station.”
Full Story (Space News)