Jerry Petersen
Commercial space company Sierra Space is working with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory on the development of new exterior spacecraft tiles that work to protect such vehicles from high temperatures during Earth re-entry.
Thermal Protection System
Sierra Space said Thursday that the Thermal Protection System tiles it is working on in collaboration with ORNL are meant to offer shielding that match the pace of current spaceflight missions. Whereas the exterior tiles that protected the Space Shuttle were subjected to a rate of 5 missions per year, the new TPS tiles will be used to protect Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane, which is meant to carry out 15 missions a year.
The TPS tiles will also be used on the 2nd Dream Chaser, dubbed Reverence, which currently under production.
TPS Development Progress
The 1st phase of the TPS’ development has already been completed. The next phase will involve, among other things, testing the tiles at NASA’s Arc Jet plasma facility and exploring the possible use of advanced manufacturing techniques for tile production.
Commenting on the new technology, Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice said, “Our patent-pending Thermal Protection System is like nothing ever before created and essential to a near future where space travel becomes routine. Reusability of space vehicles is a key factor in expanding the commercial space industry and to do that we need new technology to keep spacecraft and crew safe.”
