Explore: Reentry Shielding

composite heat shielding on separable reentry vehicles (it was no longer possible for the entire rocket structure to survive reentry). The first ICBMs

A reentry capsule is the portion of a space capsule which returns to Earth following a spaceflight. The shape is determined partly by aerodynamics; a

destroyed upon reentry. This design choice, while seemingly wasteful, reduces the spacecraft's weight by minimizing the amount of heat shielding required.

Shuttle Orbiter during the extreme 1,650 °C (3,000 °F) heat of atmospheric reentry. A secondary goal was to protect from the heat and cold of space while

during launch and reentry, an orbital module which provides additional living space and storage during orbit, but is jettisoned before reentry, and a service

spacecraft were not equipped with reentry shielding and so, unlike their Soyuz counterparts, were incapable of surviving reentry. As a result, when its cargo

before the game began. He chose Gemma and John. Upon John's reentry, he received a shield which he had to give to another contestant before the end of

of jet engines Aeroshell Atmospheric reentry AVCOAT Intumescent Starlite Sunshield (JWST) "How do heat shields on spacecraft work?". cosmosmagazine.com

shielding requirements. Only three candidate isotopes meet the last criterion (not all are listed above) and need less than 25 mm of lead shielding to

This approach is common in spaceflight, for ablative atmospheric reentry shields and for cooling of rocket engine nozzles. The same approach is also