The mission is designed to test the inflatable heat shield technology needed to land crewed missions on Mars and larger robotic missions on Venus or Saturn’s moon Titan.

Still, an inflatable heat shield shares a key characteristic with a bouncy castle: Uninflated, it can be folded and packed tightly. LOFTID fit in a cylinder a bit over four feet wide and one and a ...

With an inflatable heat shield, larger spacecraft wouldn’t need to rely on heavier material to pull off landings on other planets or re-enter our atmosphere. Tech. Entertainment.

A large inflatable heat shield developed by NASA's Space Technology Program has successfully survived a trip through Earth's atmosphere while traveling at hypersonic speeds up to 7,600 mph.

Home / Atlas launch to test inflatable heat shield. Posted in Civil Atlas launch to test inflatable heat shield by Jeff Foust November 9, 2022 February 2, 2023. Click to share on X (Opens in new ...

With inflatable heat shields, scientists may be able to land at higher altitudes on Mars, or use the IRVE-3 technology to one day carry larger payloads, including humans, ...

Then the inflatable heat shield and its payload will plummet back through Earth's atmosphere, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean about 20 minutes after launch -- 350 miles (563 kilometers) down ...

An inflatable heat shield was successfully tested on Monday, demonstrating for the first time that these light, flexible devices could be used to protect spacecraft on their way through planets ...

A similar inflatable heat shield will be put to the ultimate test during the July 21, 2012 launch of NASA's Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment 3 mission. Posted July 17.

Legendary science fiction author Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) scored another hit in the prediction department on Monday, July 23, 2012 when NASA tested an inflatable heat shield that he ...

NASA launched a novel new heat shield prototype on a successful test flight Monday (July 23), a mission that sent a high-tech space balloon streaking through Earth's atmosphere at hypersonic ...