Advanced Ablative Insulators and Methods of Making Them

Advanced ablative (more specifically, charring) materials that provide temporary protection against high temperatures, and advanced methods of designing and manufacturing insulators based on these materials, are undergoing development. These materials and methods were conceived in an effort to replace the traditional thermal- protection systems (TPSs) of reentry spacecraft with robust, lightweight, better-performing TPSs that can be designed and manufactured more rapidly and at lower cost. These materials and methods could also be used to make improved TPSs for general aerospace, military, and industrial applications.