Lightweight Nonmetallic Thermal Protection Materials Technology

Abstract

To fulfill President George W. Bush's "Vision for Space Exploration" (2004) - successful human and robotic missions to and from other solar system bodies in order to explore their atmospheres and surfaces - the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) must reduce the trip time, cost, and vehicle weight so that the payload and scientific experiments' capabilities can be maximized. The new project described in this paper will generate thermal protection system (TPS) product that will enable greater fidelity in mission/vehicle design trade studies, support risk reduction for material selections, assist in the optimization of vehicle weights, and provide materials and processes templates for use in the development of human-rated TPS qualification and certification plans