Nasa chooses Orion heat shield
"Alan Erskine" wrote in
:
"Jeff Findley" wrote in message
...
The velocity of a vehicle reentering coming from the moon is *a lot*
higher than the velocity of a vehicle reentering coming from low
earth orbit. Given the shape and density of the Orion (similar to
Apollo CM), I've got to believe that the shuttle TPS materials simply
aren't good enough.
There's nothing wrong with the shuttle TPS for LEO work, but might not
make the grade for Lunar returns.
Three questions:
1 Will the Orion heat shield be in two thicknesses; one for LEO and
one for Lunar missions?
2 Is there a mass advantage to using an ablator over re-useable
TPS?
I think so.
3 Is there a cost advantage to ablator over re-useable TPS?
Shuttle tile must be a lot more expensive than ablator.
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