NASA engineers have begun conducting tests of materials that could be used in the heat shield for its Crew Exploration Vehicle. The tests are being conducted at NASA's Ames Research Center, inside an apparatus engineers describe as a "room-size blowtorch."
The testing is part of the advanced development activity needed to create an effective heat shield for the CEV crew capsule.
NASA is working to create and test the Frisbee-shaped heat shield – which is envisioned to be 16.5 feet (5 meters) in diameter – so it can be attached to the base of the cone-shaped CEV crew capsule. The shield must protect the capsule and its astronaut crew from heat reaching thousands of degrees that would develop during re-entry through the atmosphere, from either low-Earth orbit or the Moon.
The Ames tests are among the first steps NASA Ames is taking to design and test a new space exploration system that will return human beings to the moon and support later missions to Mars. Several other NASA facilities also are taking part in the development effort.
