NASA sends an inflatable HEAT SHIELD that looks like a UFO into space …
NASA has just brought its LOFTID demonstration heat shield into orbit aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The heat shield was first successfully deployed and then landed in the ocean near Hawaii about two hours after launch. Lofid is a newly created, inflatable, themed shield whose purpose is to protect the capsule and crew upon entering a planetary atmosphere.
Go #LOFTID ! See our inflatable heat shield @NASA_Technology test separate from its @ulalaunch Centaur upper stage rocket. Watch live through splashdown: https://t.co/BgScjbdJW6
How LOFTID might help land future astronauts on Mars: https://t.co/eDRGA9TbKf pic.twitter.com/1y9Tf34KtJ
– NASA (@NASA) November 10, 2022
LOFTID was launched alongside the main payload of the Atlas V rocket, the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) 2 weather satellite, which was successfully placed in polar orbit to collect weather data for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The mission marked the final take-off of the Atlas V from the Vandenberg space base in California, as ULA prepares to launch its next-generation Vulcan rocket for the first time. The rocket took off at 1:49 am PST.
NASA's LOFTID (Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator) technology will allow future planetary missions to Mars, and possibly other regions of our solar system, to carry a compact and flexible heat shield in a payload compartment that it can be deployed before the mission enters the target planet's atmosphere. No more heavy and fragile external structures to protect against the heat generated as it enters the atmosphere.
During NASA's livestream of the event, seen below, a NASA official explained that the technology used on LOFTID will also have benefits here on Earth. In fact, the researchers used the same heat shielding material to build a thermal shelter prototype that helps fight forest fires.
The US space agency provided an update about an hour after launch, confirming that it has successfully deployed LOFTID into orbit from an altitude of approximately 78 miles (125 km). This means that the heat shield has begun its descent towards reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. About half an hour later, NASA filmed the LOFTID launch live in the ocean near Hawaii. The heat shield will be lifted out of the water by a boat and then head towards the mainland. A data logger on board of LOFTID was also launched shortly before ditching and will be recovered. Here is the video of the launch
NASA says the LOFTID was built to withstand re-entry temperatures above 2900 ° F (1600 ° C). The space agency explains that it was "built with three layers: an outer layer of ceramic fiber fabric to maintain surface integrity, an intermediate layer of insulation to inhibit heat transmission, and an inner layer that prevents hot gases. to reach the inflatable structure ". The flexible thermal protection system is also foldable, packable, deployable and customizable ”.
So the future of space exploration is entrusted to an "inflatable pillow" that looks like a large flying saucer, but which should still allow safe re-entry into the atmosphere, avoiding tragic accidents like the one that hit the Columbia shuttle, with the loss of the entire crew. .
Thanks to our Telegram channel you can stay updated on the publication of new articles of Economic Scenarios.
The article NASA sends into space an inflatable HEAT SHIELD that looks like a UFO… it comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/170252-2/ on Fri, 11 Nov 2022 08:00:23 +0000.