This paper presents results from flown Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) material specimens, the status of development of TPS and hot structure components as well as the programmatic for planned flight experiments on reentry capsules.
Here, not only TPS is considered in its strict meaning but also “hot structures” as thermal and mechanical load carrying primary structure without any active cooling system.
First TPS material specimens, developed in Germany, have flown on Russian Foton capsules successfully.
In a national technology project TPS and hot structure components will be developed for flight demonstration to investigate the reusability.
The importance of representative tests to verify the TPS design early in the design and development phase is demonstrated.