At least they’re looking to protect more than their asses.
Scientists here at the NASA Ames Research Center are testing high-tech materials they hope will hold up to temperatures three times hotter than the surface of the sun.
The research could lead to the improvement of the so-called heat shields that are critical to space flight. The space shuttle Columbia, for example, exploded during re-entry into the atmosphere in August 2003 when a hole in its outer surface caused the craft to break apart under extreme temperatures.
Right now, NASA is designing a heat shield for the Crew Exploration Vehicle, a planned spacecraft the Bush administration hopes will transport six astronauts to the moon and back by 2012. On Thursday, NASA Ames opened the lab, called the arc jet facility, to the press and demonstrated a test that was akin to seeing a lightning bolt up close.
Why not ask the Air Force? Those guys have forgotten more than NASA knows.
Why not ask Burt Rutan? If you don’t go so fast, you don’t get so hot and you don’t need no stinkin heat sheilds.
Doubtful it will ever fly. The next generation of deficit hawks will slash and burn the budget for space. There’s going to eventually be some major spending cuts. They’ll just keep enough flowing to keep the major contractors and Senators from those states from foaming at the mouth.
It will fly if the Chinesse go to the moon.
The Chinese can plan in decades. In this country it’s 2 or 4 year election cycles. Your right of course, the decision will be political, not economic or scientific. Maybe we should just sub the whole program out to the Chinese like all our consumer goods. Japanese/Korean design and Chinese manufactured. If something breaks up there they can call India. 😉
Asbestos. Properly handled, it can be safe and has a lot of uses. Only it isn’t very politically correct.
“Why not ask Burt Rutan? If you don’t go so fast, you don’t get so hot and you don’t need no stinkin heat sheilds.”
JaySaul, that’s a fairly silly statement.
Have you any concept at all of how fast you HAVE to be going to even reach Low Earth Orbit?
Apparently not.
Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_earth_orbit
Or, how about Earth Escape Velocity, the speed that you MUST reach in order to travel to the moon?
Take another look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_velocity.
Burt Rutan got away with less heat shielding for his XPrize ship because it did NOT go into orbit. Since his ship was not going fast enough to make orbit, it did not need everything needed by a ship that does make orbit. Did Rutan’s ship leave the atmosphere. Undoubtedly. That is why NASA awarded astronaut wings to the pilot. And, yes, at its apex it was traveling much slower than say, the space shuttle in orbit.
But, when Burt designs a ship that goes into orbit it will HAVE to attain much higher speeds. It is simple physics. Period.
Burt knows this. Apparently you do not.
uh, ok, yeah so does anyone remember that the shuttles were designed and built in the 60s-70s?
Asbestos wont work…At this heat range it will turn to Glass, and heat up. ASK me about my compressed Asbestos siding.. BETTEr then BRICK when it gathers heat.
there is something they can try, but it adds alittle weight.. EXTEND the heat shield about 6-12 inches OUT, on reentry.. Let convection cool it on the backside..
another idea is NOT heat resistance, but a heat sync… Carry the heat for the bottom, to the BACK of the ship.
Only difficulty is takeing 10,000+ degrees heat. Few things can do that, besides ceramic. This is enough to MELT tungston carbide.
what would be COOL is to change the configuration of the ship for reentry.
the MAIn difficuty is Slowing down, and slowing enough you let gravity PULL you down. Once you hit the right speed, Gavity PULLs you HARD, and its mostly freefall the rest of the way, but you still have ALOT of speed. Useing the bottom of the ship is like a Para-jumper, spreading his arms and laying out. Once started, you DONT control the PULL to earth…you can GLIDE,, but you really dont have any GAS to do anything.
Trying to SLOW a STRAIGHT down decent, is VERY hard, and they REALLY dont have any fuel, they Used it all getting UP there. If there was a WAY of get about 1/2 fueled up, they could control more.
Why? What practical point is there in putting men on the moon – again? There may be some mining and scientific research applications to spaceflight, but putting people up there just b/c we can is pointless. Spend the money on something that will actually help people.
the Moon??
thats easy…Its our biggest satilite, and a GREAt jump point AFTEr getting off this rock.
Unless we wish to use extreme measures, to launch from this planet, we NEED a REAL station in space…and the moon is THERE..
Or the ultimate heat shield – PEL (politician epidermal layer)
Damn #11 said it better than I would.
I was wondering about this, thanks for the information.