Porous-ceramic, thermal protection systems are used heavily in current reentry vehicles like the Space Shuttle and are currently being proposed for the next generation of manned spacecraft, Orion. These materials insulate the structural components of a spacecraft against the intense thermal environments of atmospheric reentry. Furthermore, these materials are also highly exposed to space environmental hazards like meteoroid and orbital debris impacts. This paper discusses recent impact testing up to 9 km/s, and the findings of the influence of material equation-of-state on the simulation of the impact event to characterize the ballistic performance of these materials. These results will be compared with heritage models1 for these materials developed from testing at lower velocities. Assessments of predicted spacecraft risk based upon these tests and simulations will also be discussed.
Ballistic Performance of Porous-Ceramic, Thermal-Protection-Systems
Hypervelocity Impact Symposium 2010 ; 2010 ; Freiburg, Germany
2009-01-01
Conference paper
No indication
English
Ballistic Performance of Porous-ceramic, Thermal Protection Systems
Tema Archive | 2013
|Ceramic Based Nanomaterials for Ballistic Protection
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2006
|Thermal protection of ballistic entry vehicles
AIAA | 1965
|Ceramic composite thermal protection systems
Tema Archive | 1985
|