2008-05-14

Such Primitive Ablative Armor, Ha!

I'm interested in knowing more detail on the reference in this story about NASA's lightweight ceramic ablator heat-shield material withstanding 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Obviously that must refer to a certain thickness lasting a certain length of time before burning off (i.e. ablating) entirely, but no data is provided.

Nonetheless, that's pretty cool. Might've been helpful on the hull of the Invisible Hand, which managed to get pretty cooked during a low velocity atmospheric entry.

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