The typical ways to ensure a spacecraft isn't heavily damaged during descent are to use single-use ablative heat shields, which burn away, or ceramic tiles, which can withstand the heat, but must ...

Typical ablative heat shields are as wide as whatever spacecraft they are shielding. They are rigid and heavy, and rely on the gradual burning off of material to deflect heat absorption away from ...

ESA is preparing to test a very cool new fold-out heat shield for protecting spacecraft on re-entry. The Pridwen won't burn away like ablative heat shields, and it'll also slow falling satellites ...

Orion's heat shield features an ablative material called Avcoat. (Image credit: Lockheed Martin) Vintage Apollo. While Avcoat is vintage Apollo, the production process for Orion's 21st-century ...

As opposed to ablative heat shields, like those used on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which require replacement after each mission, Space Forge says it built its “Pridwen” heat shield to be large ...

The particular concern was with Orion’s heat shield, separation bolts, and power distribution, as during the reentry process for Artemis I, the capsule’s ablative heat shield wore away more ...

SpaceX is upgrading Starship’s heat shield with new tiles that are twice as strong as the previous version used during the flight 4 test. SpaceX is adingd an ablative secondary structure behind the ...

The heat shield issue notwithstanding, ... The heat shield uses tiles made from an ablative material called Avcoat to protect the capsule and crew during atmospheric reentry.

NASA said the heat shield investigation and other issues with the Orion spacecraft have delayed the Artemis II launch until April 2026, a slip of seven months from the previous launch date in ...

The typical ways to ensure a spacecraft isn't heavily damaged during descent are to use single-use ablative heat shields, which burn away, or ceramic tiles, which can withstand the heat, ...

A private company has plans to test a revolutionary new heat shield that folds and unfolds like origami, and it could conduct a test flight aboard a SpaceX rocket later this year.