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#26 2022-11-09 19:57:53
- Void
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- Registered: 2011-12-29
- Posts: 7,910
Re: Atmospheric Surfboards
Thanks, I guess what would matter is what would work.
Done.
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#27 2022-11-10 18:22:22
- tahanson43206
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- Registered: 2018-04-27
- Posts: 19,748
Re: Atmospheric Surfboards
For Void .... here is a report on a ** real ** Atmospheric Surfboard ** !!!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/nasa-recover … 00243.html
Gizmodo
NASA Recovers Inflatable Heat Shield From Pacific Ocean After Orbital Test
Passant RabieThu, November 10, 2022 at 2:23 PM
The LOFTID heat shield is lifted out of the water onto the deck of the recovery vessel.The LOFTID heat shield after its ocean recovery.
After launching an inflatable heat shield experiment to space on Thursday, NASA has now recovered the device after its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The space agency is seeking to learn whether this kind of heat shield can protect precious payloads from the high temperatures of atmospheric reentry.
NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) took off onboard an Atlas 5 rocket at 4:49 a.m. ET on Thursday from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The flying saucer may not look like much, but this $93 million device could play a crucial role in sending future missions to Mars, Venus, and Titan.
LOFTID separated from the rocket about 75 minutes after liftoff. The rocket’s upper stage performed two burns to place the heat shield on a reentry trajectory, and LOFTID inflated as it began its journey back down to Earth. The fully inflated device was about 78 miles (125 kilometers) above the surface when it began its reentry through Earth’s atmosphere, NASA reports in blog updates today.
LOFTID fully inflated as it began re-entry.
LOFTID is made out of ceramic fiber that is woven together to create a fabric. This fabric is designed to endure temperatures close to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit as it plummets through the atmosphere at 18,000 miles per hour. The heat shield is meant to slow down heavier payloads as they descend to Earth, or to the surfaces of other planets like Mars and Venus, and land them safely with the help of a parachute.
The heat shield’s parachute deployed about two hours after liftoff, and LOFTID splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near the coast of Hawaii, where a recovery boat was sent to find it. The crew on board the Kahana-II vessel fished LOFTID out of the ocean and placed it on deck, according to NASA.
LOFTID provided limited data during the demonstration, which is why it was crucial to retrieve the shield so that NASA engineers can take a look at the data collected throughout its descent. The results of the demonstration will be available within a few days, NASA says.
It’s not yet clear whether LOFTID performed as expected during its reentry. The heat shield splashed down in the ocean “a few minutes later than originally thought based on the expected mission timeline,” NASA wrote in a short update. LOFTID should have slowed down from a maximum speed of Mach 29 to Mach 0.7 during its reentry, but the onboard data still needs to confirm its speed.
If the experiment is successful, it could one day assist in crewed missions to Mars, as well as heavier payload missions to Venus or Saturn’s moon Titan.
“The LOFTID test represents a major step towards flight readiness of large surface area heat shields,” Sadaf Sobhani, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell University, said in an emailed statement. “This is important because future exploration missions, such as landing humans on Mars, will require heat shields much larger than what can fit within a rocket payload, therefore deployable technologies will enable such otherwise unattainable missions.”
(th)
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#28 2022-11-10 20:04:38
- Void
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- Registered: 2011-12-29
- Posts: 7,910
Re: Atmospheric Surfboards
Yes, that is gratifying. They have a method to enlarge the footprint, and some interesting methods. They are going to use such to land on the Earth at least and for an assist for Mars and Venus perhaps. All good.
Of course, although I would like to see enlarged footprints, and different materials/methods eventually get all the way to landing stuff on planets with atmospheres, my current obsession is to facilitate the movement of masses of materials to Earth orbit from the Moon and Asteroids, and perhaps from Mars, maybe even water and CO2 from Mars/Phobos/Deimos. The latter option is much less probable.
But good post (th).
I believe that this tech is good for Vulcan. I am not entirely a SpaceX fanboy. I want it all.
And I don't have contempt for Blue Origin. Each entity is like a special child. We should hope they all make it to something notable, in my opinion.
Vulcanizing Starship might be an interesting option, but in the case of Vulcan, the intent is to recover the engines and avionics, and let the rest of the 1st stage go into the drink. I would like to see a version of Starship when the ship goes to orbit, and the atmospheric and Vacuum engines get sent back to the surface of Earth. Then that ship in orbit might be outfitted with propulsion methods other, that is perhaps more suitable to other solar system activities.
But we will see.
Done.
Last edited by Void (2022-11-10 20:11:41)
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