Discussion Inflatable Heat Shield

[ryan]

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/aeronautics/features/irve.html
Very intresting, and a good step forward. Could be utilized on long duration missions for probes, to save weight for more payload.

 

[ijuin]

I wonder how far it can be scaled up? e.g. could a manned capsule use such a system, and would it still be reliable enough and save enough mass over a rigid heat shield to be worthwhile? Also, what's the reasonable upper limit for reentry speed? LEO reentry? Lunar return? Mars return? Outer solar system return (e.g. Titan sample return mission)?

 

[Urwumpe]

The Russians are already way ahead in such technology, they developed it for Mars Missions and later flight-tested and improved it in a Russian-German Joint Venture. The inflatable heat shields have many advantages, but they are also limited to ballistic reentries, so you can't do a manned mission with them, except maybe as emergency system.

 

[orb]

NASA will launch another Inflatable Heat Shield test (IRVE-3) this Saturday.

SPACE.com:

• NASA Launching High-Tech Inflatable Heat Shield Test Saturday:

  {...} NASA is set to try it fly on Saturday (July 21), as part of a novel inflatable re-entry experiment that could find a variety of uses, not only both off planet but as well as possibly in returning payloads from the International Space Station.
  
  The Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment III, or IRVE-3, has been years in the making for all of 20 minutes of suborbital flight. It will be rocketed to high altitude above Earth from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility near Chincoteague Island, Va., then will dive into the Atlantic Ocean.
  
  {...}
  
  A three-stage Black Brant 11 suborbital rocket will hurl the 680-pound (1,496-kilogram) IRVE-3 skyward, said F. McNeil "(Neil") Cheatwood, principal investigator for the IRVE program at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.
  
  {...}
  
  Cheatwood recalls that the 2009 flight verified the IRVE was stable when it was inflated to its profile. It behaved as like a rigid blunt body of the same shape, he said, making it through the heat pulse.
  
  "The experiment really was … just take us through the heat pulse. It was like a 30-second experiment, officially," Cheatwood added. "It flew right through supersonic, transonic, into subsonic."
  
  IRVE-3 is the same size — nearly 10 feet wide (3 meters) when inflated — as the other two.
  
  "IRVE-3 is launching on a larger rocket which will take it to a higher altitude," Barnstorff told SPACE.com. "It will come back in with a higher velocity and more heating than IRVE-2 saw. IRVE-3 will see about 10 times the heating that IRVE-2 did. It’s a heavier payload, which also contributes to the higher heat levels."
  
  {...}

  
  
• Photos: NASA's Inflatable Heat Shield Concepts

NASA:

• RELEASE : 12-236 - NASA Hypersonic Inflatable Tech Test Set For Virginia Launch July 21:

  WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. -- NASA Space Technology Program researchers will launch and deploy a large inflatable heat shield aboard a rocket travelling at hypersonic speeds this weekend during a technology demonstration test from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va.
  
  NASA has four consecutive days of launch opportunities for the agency's Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3), starting July 21, with the liftoff window from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. EDT each day.
  
  The test is designed to demonstrate lightweight, yet strong, inflatable structures that could become practical tools for exploration of other worlds or as a way to return items safely to Earth from the International Space Station. During this technology demonstration test flight, NASA's IRVE-3 payload will try to re-enter Earth's atmosphere at hypersonic speeds -- Mach 5, or 3,800 mph to 7,600 mph.
  
  {...}

  
  
• Inflatable Spacecraft Heat Shield Set to Launch

SpaceRef: Hypersonic Inflatable Tech Test

 

[orb]

 

[orb]

NASA News Release:
MEDIA ADVISORY : M12-136
NASA Hypersonic Inflatable Tech Test Now Set For Launch July 22

July 19, 2012

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. -- NASA managers are rescheduling the launch of an inflatable heat shield technology demonstration flight from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., until no earlier than Sunday, July 22.

The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3) launch was postponed for one day to allow for additional testing of launch vehicle systems. NASA has three consecutive days of launch opportunities for IRVE-3, with a liftoff window from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. EDT each day.

{...}

 

[orb]

Parabolic Arc: NASA Plans Inflatable Hypersonic Heat Shield Test on Monday:

NASA has rescheduled the third Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3) for Monday. The experimental heat shield will be lofted by a suborbital rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia.

{...}

 

[orb]

Video replay of the launch

NASA News Release: RELEASE : 12-250 - NASA Successfully Tests Hypersonic Inflatable Heat Shield

Florida Today: NASA launches rocket from Virginia facility

SpaceRef: Hypersonic Inflatable Heat Shield Test a Success

SPACE.com: NASA Launches Hypersonic Inflatable Heat Shield Prototype

Parabolic Arc: NASA Successfully Tests Hypersonic Inflatable Heat Shield

Universe Today: Hypersonic Inflatable Heat Shield Tested Successfully

NewScientist: Inflatable spacecraft makes successful splash landing

NASA: IRVE-3: Inflatable Heat Shield a Splashing Success

[table="head;width=450"]{colsp=2}

Click on images to enlarge​

|

IRVE-3 range control room at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

Credit: NASA/Sean Smith​

|IRVE-3 launch.

Credit: NASA/Sean Smith​

[/table]​

 

[orb]

SPACE.com: Inflatable Heat Shields Could One Day Land Astronauts on Mars

Aviation Week: Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Test Returns Good Data For NASA

Discovery News: How Astronauts May One Day Land on Mars

 

[orb]

NASA: IRVE-3 Launch: Preliminary Results

 

[orb]

NASALANGLEY:

 

[RGClark]

Thanks for that. The key question is how much lighter can it be made than the standard heat shields. The Apollo heat shield was about 15% of the reentry mass. The PICA-X material of SpaceX is supposed to be half as heavy so around 8%, though I've seen discussion on Nasaspaceflight that it might be as low as 5%.


Bob Clark