Ceramic Heat Shields for Lifting Re-entry Vehicles

Analytical and experimental evaluations were made of the potential of porous ceramics for use as re-entry vehicle heat shield materials. Significant potential is foreseen though further advances in structural and material technologies are needed to realize fully the advantages offered by stable high temperature materials. The experimental work suggests that brittle fracture propagation, highly critical in dense ceramics, is less of a problem with porous ceramics.