NASA to install heat shields in the new Orion Spacecraft
- 6 years ago
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLORIDA — According to reports from NASA, an uncrewed Orion spacecraft will be launched during the Exploration Mission-1, beginning a three week trip to space.
NASA's Orion spacecraft is 16.5 feet in diameter, one of the largest of its kind.
The base structure of the heat shield has titanium truss covered with layers of carbon fiber material known as composite substrate.
Large blocks of Avcoat, an ablative material, were then bonded onto the shield's surface.
Avcoat has been used in the past in Apollo's heat shields and the Orion Exploration Flight Test-1.
However, this time blocks were used instead of the usual injecting method.
The Orion spacecraft would be taken 40,000 miles beyond the moon and back to Earth.
As the spacecraft re enters Earth's atmosphere, it would need to withstand temperatures of upto 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
This is when the ablative material will wear away, and prevent heat from being transferred to the rest of the spacecraft.
The NASA engineers plan to monitor how the Orion performs in outer space and if it works well, it may soon carry astronauts into space destinations such as the Moon and Mars.
NASA's Orion spacecraft is 16.5 feet in diameter, one of the largest of its kind.
The base structure of the heat shield has titanium truss covered with layers of carbon fiber material known as composite substrate.
Large blocks of Avcoat, an ablative material, were then bonded onto the shield's surface.
Avcoat has been used in the past in Apollo's heat shields and the Orion Exploration Flight Test-1.
However, this time blocks were used instead of the usual injecting method.
The Orion spacecraft would be taken 40,000 miles beyond the moon and back to Earth.
As the spacecraft re enters Earth's atmosphere, it would need to withstand temperatures of upto 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
This is when the ablative material will wear away, and prevent heat from being transferred to the rest of the spacecraft.
The NASA engineers plan to monitor how the Orion performs in outer space and if it works well, it may soon carry astronauts into space destinations such as the Moon and Mars.