The heat shield that might enable human habitation on Mars in the 2030s
An experimental heat shield will fly Thursday with a polar satellite that is intended to enhance weather forecasting, with the possibility to send people to Mars in the future.
The two distinct missions will each launch from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Lompoc, California, using an Atlas V rocket built by United Launch Alliance.
At the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Lompoc, California, Space Launch Complex-3 will serve as the launch pad for the two distinct missions, each of which will be carried aloft by an Atlas V rocket from the United Launch Alliance. Live coverage of the launch, which is scheduled for Thursday at 4:25 a.m. Eastern Time, will be available on NASA’s website.
According to meteorologists at the US Space Force’s Space Launch Delta 30 Weather Squadron, there is a 90% chance of good weather for the launch. Originally scheduled to launch on November 1, both missions were delayed due to an issue with the rocket’s upper-stage battery. To prepare for a new launch date, engineers switched out the batteries and retested them.
Since 1960, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have launched several weather satellites. In a fleet of NOAA’s most recent polar-orbiting environmental satellites, the Joint Polar Satellite System-2, or JPSS-2, will be the third satellite.
In order to foresee and be ready for extreme weather events like hurricanes, snowstorms, and floods, the orbiter will gather data.
The satellite will be able to assess the ocean and atmosphere, keep an eye on wildfires and volcanoes, and spot smoke and dust in the air. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the climate crisis, it will also monitor the ozone and air temperature.
The satellite will be dubbed NOAA-21 after it is in orbit and looping around the planet from North to South Poles. According to NOAA, the satellite will keep track of every location on Earth at least twice every day. Additionally, the information gathered by the satellite will be used to feed the weather app on your phone.
The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership and NOAA-20 satellites, along with the JPSS-2, make up the Joint Polar Satellite System.
When the satellite is in orbit and looping around the earth from North to South Poles, it will be given the name NOAA-21. The satellite will track every point on Earth at least twice each day, according to NOAA. The data collected by the satellite will also be fed into the weather app on your phone.
The Joint Polar Satellite System is made up of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership, NOAA-20, and JPSS-2 satellites.
It can be difficult to send humans or robotic explorers to planets with atmospheres since the aeroshells, or heat shields, that are currently in use depend on the size of a rocket’s shroud.
However, an inflatable aeroshell could avoid such a need and allow for the dispatch of heavier missions to many planets. Aerodynamic forces are applied to a spacecraft as it reaches a planet’s atmosphere, which aids in slowing it down. To generate the drag required to slow down and safely land a spaceship on Mars, where the atmosphere is only 1% as dense as Earth’s atmosphere, further assistance is required.
For this reason, according to NASA experts, a sizable deployable aeroshell like LOFTID, which inflates and is shielded by a pliable heat shield, might apply the breaks as it descends into the Martian atmosphere.
In order to help the spaceship slow down more quickly and stop some of the extremely intense heating, the aeroshell is built to produce higher drag in the upper atmosphere. The size of the LOFTID demonstration is roughly 20 feet (6 metres).
LOFTID will encounter temperatures of up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit and top speeds of around 18,000 kilometres per hour upon reentry. The materials used to build the inflatable structure, which includes a woven ceramic fabric called silicon carbide, will be put to the ultimate test.
The tech demo will separate from the pole satellite around 90 minutes after JPSS-2 and LOFITD launch, and LOFTID’s relatively brief mission will start. The upper stage of the rocket will reposition LOFTID after it has inflated. A team will recover the aeroshell after it splashes down roughly 500 miles off the coast of Hawaii.
