Next generation heat shield

NASA has successfully tested the breakthrough heat shield, capable of protecting the spacecraft through the atmosphere at speeds of up to 12,230 km / h.

The new IRVE-3 test flight was made on July 23 from the Wallops launch site of the US Aerospace and Defense Agency (NASA) in Wallop Island, Virginia. The test took 20 minutes.

'IRVE-3' is pictured after being injected with nitrogen - (Photo: NASA)

IRVE-3 contains unbucked rings pressed in the form of a cone, the outside covered with heat-resistant layer made of several layers of heat-resistant material.

After 6 minutes of launch, the 300kg barrier and the payload were removed from the tip of the launcher as expected, at an altitude of 450km above the Atlantic.

A pump system pushed nitrogen gas onto the IRVE-3 shield until it burst into a mushroom 3m wide, then plunged into the atmosphere at supersonic speeds, according to Gizmag.

Four cameras attached to the device confirmed that the shield remained in shape despite the terrible friction during the ground return.

Lesa Rose, director of NASA's Langley Research Center, said NASA engineers and experts spent three years preparing for IRVE-3, and luckily everything was going well.