Designers reworking the Avcoat heat shield for NASA's Orion crew capsule to beef it up for a trip around the Moon in 2018 have a new data point-reentry temperatures on the vehicle's first flight test were almost 500F cooler than expected. That is exactly the type of information the Dec. 5, 2014, exploration flight test (EFT-1) was designed to collect. While it is too soon to draw firm conclusions-prime contractor Lockheed Martin delivers its "90-day report" on the test in March-the lower temperature could allow engineers to trim some weight from the big ablative shield. That decision must await a more thorough analysis of the data, including resolution of some pre-flight heat-shield structural issues.
展开▼
