NASA will test an inflatable heat shield to protect spacecraft

In a few days (NASA) will test an inflatable shield that should provide protection for the descent vehicles.

Here's What We Know

The test will take place on November 9 as part of the Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) experiment. The diameter of the shield will be six meters. NASA scientists believe it could be used in both manned and unmanned missions.

Inflatable shield should become indispensable for landing on Mars. This is due to the peculiarities of the Red Planet's atmosphere. Its density precludes strong heating of the equipment, which goes to the landing, but because of the rarefaction spacecraft fall at high speed. To solve the problem, engineers equipped the Curiosity and Perseverance drones with rocket engines.

A prototype inflatable shield will fly into space with the ULA Atlas V rocket. Along with it, it will orbit the Joint Polar Surveyor System-2 (JPSS-2) weather satellite. NASA will receive information about the status of the shield three times a minute. It will return to Earth and land by parachute, previously dropping the module with the data recorded during the experiment.

Source: ExtremeTech