Timeline for Heat shields made in space out of rocky source material - cheap way to get cargo to Earth?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 29, 2021 at 12:44 | history | migrated | from space.stackexchange.com (revisions) | ||
| Apr 28, 2021 at 8:06 | comment | added | uhoh | Okay got it. I added the word and deleted my comment. | |
| Apr 28, 2021 at 7:16 | comment | added | Uwe | @uhoh "A successful heatshield should evaporate as necessary during reentry." I am sorry, I forgot to type the word ablative: A successful ablative heatshield should evaporate as necessary during reentry." But for cheap one way heatshields tiles are too expensive | |
| Apr 27, 2021 at 19:49 | comment | added | Uwe | The NASA study is not about using rocky material. It is about sintered regolith or regolith bound by an elastomer. So the solid rock problems like brittleness, fissures and holes are avoided. Densly sintered material was considered to be too much thermally conductive. | |
| Apr 27, 2021 at 18:56 | comment | added | kim holder | (Cough) uh, after reading Cornelis's comment, I actually searched for material on the topic and was very surprised to find something. nasa.gov/pdf/744615main_2011-Hogue-Final-Report.pdf It's a NIAC study. It discusses formulations on page 26. Any thoughts Uwe? I'm thinking of frying to draft an answer based on it, but I'm not in a position to digest it properly as I don't have the technical training. | |
| Apr 27, 2021 at 18:18 | comment | added | Cornelis | But a heat shield doesn't have to be ablative as such, does it ? Couldn't layers of basalt fiber be alternated with for instance, sintered rock powder ? | |
| Apr 27, 2021 at 17:43 | comment | added | Uwe | @Cornelis basalt fibers may replace the fiberglas, but you need the phenolic resin too. A layer of basalt fibers would not be gas tight. | |
| Apr 27, 2021 at 17:37 | comment | added | Cornelis | So what about basalt fiber ? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basalt_fiber Looks like it has some good mechanical and thermal properties ? | |
| Apr 27, 2021 at 16:34 | comment | added | Uwe | @kimholder If you use a lot heavier heatshield, the heatshield has to fight more heat power, so the evaporated outer layer of the shield should be thicker. I doubt that is possible to win this way. | |
| Apr 27, 2021 at 16:10 | comment | added | kim holder | The liberty to use a lot more mass doesn't sufficiently reduce the risk of cracks? | |
| Apr 27, 2021 at 7:11 | history | answered | Uwe | CC BY-SA 4.0 |