It is the world’s largest heat shield, measuring 16.4 feet in diameter. Textron’s specially formulated ablative material, called Avcoat, is designed to protect the spacecraft and its crew from extreme temperatures during re-entry.
Credit: Imelda B. Joson and Edwin L. Aguirre
Work on the heat shield for NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle — America's next-generation spacecraft that could astronauts on missions to Mars — is on track toward an ambitious test launch in 2014.
Since spring, teams of engineers and technicians from Massachusetts-based Textron Defense Systems have been meticulously applying Avcoat, a proprietary thermal ablation and insulation material, to the heat shield, which will protect the Orion capsule and its crew from the extreme heat generated during high-speed re-entry into the atmosphere after a deep-space flight.
Members of the media received a sneak peek of the heat shield on Wednesday (July 17) during a press viewing here at Textron's manufacturing plant.
Officials and managers from NASA, Lockheed Martin (the prime contractor for the Orion program) and Textron were on hand to answer questions about the project from the nearly 100 people gathered at the plant.
The Orion vehicle is scheduled for launch into space without a crew in September of 2014 as part of its Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1).
The maiden flight will evaluate the system design and performance of the spacecraft, which is intended to send humans on future explorations of an asteroid, the moon and, ultimately, Mars.
At 16.4 feet (5 meters) in diameter, the Orion heat shield is the largest and most advanced composite heat shield ever built. Textron originally developed the lightweight Avcoat ablative material in the 1960s for use on the Apollo command module.
This view shows a bare honeycomb structure and one that has been filled with Avcoat using Textron’s “gunning” process.
Credit: Edwin L. Aguirre and Imelda B. Joson
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