 |
Ablative Heat (Reentry) Shield
A single-use shield or covering designed to accept the heat of reentry and burn off. (Read the full article)
| "Here's a VERY early reference to the idea that a space craft will encounter great heat as it moves through the atmosphere from The Brick Moon, published by Edward Everette Hale in 1870: "I was to spend the winter in one final effort to get twenty-five thousand dollars more if I could, with which we might paint the MOON, or put on some ground felspathic granite dust, in a sort of paste, which in its hot flight through the air might fuse into a white enamel."" (Bill Christensen 5/13/2005 3:59:27 PM ) |
| "A flaw, you heat up on reentry, by compressing the air in front of you, thereby heating the falling object.
"Airfriction" is a myth." (Amber Thompson 8/8/2007 1:44:36 PM ) |
| "As far as I know, the choice of a big, blunt-ended space capsule came when it was found that this kind of shape creates what amounts to an air cushion in front of the object as it falls. The capsule experiences less air friction along its surface and has less heat transfered to the capsule as a result." (Bill Christensen 7/26/2009 8:42:46 AM ) |
More info on Ablative Heat (Reentry) Shield
Leave a comment:
Tediously, spammers have returned. So, send me your comments to bill at the site name (be sure to mention the page) and I'll post them. Thanks!
Current News Articles
Barista Robot Perfects Latte Swirl With Multi-DOF Wriggle
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
Vendetta 2023 All-Terrain Skateboard Could Use Neal Stephenson's Smartwheels
'If you surf over a bump... If you surf over a pothole...'
Safe Street Rebel Autonomous Vehicle Luddites And Schachner's 1931 Robot-Deranger
'Then the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and they stood an instant transfixed...'
The Electric Balance Bicycle And The Decline Of Western Civilization
'Noiselessly, on rubber-tired wheels, they journeyed...'
'Droplet' Battery Microscale Power Pack
'...a power pack the size of a pea.'
ARX-5 Doing Robot Arm Dancing
It's Data's day - at last.
CD, DVD Bit Rot And PKD's Civic Notification Distorter
'...copy two of the original document no longer can be superimposed on copy one.'
Inbiodroid Prometheus 2.0 Telepresence Avatar Robot
My prize robot, tall, dashing would speak and act for me...
Amazon One Is Frank Herbert's Palm Lock
'A palm lock must be keyed to one individual's hand shape and palm lines.'
DroneDog Ground Security Robot Dogs From Asylon
'I have transferred the ego of a dog to a synthetic dog brain in the skull case of a robot dog.'
Who Knows What Might Be Found When Visiting A Metal Asteroid?
'...inspect the tiny speck of matter that swam toward them out of the bottomless void.'
Giant Lunar Surface Test Bed Built On Earth
Astronauts first walked the site, then flew over the site at a few hundred feet in a small Cessna.
