A successful NASA flight test Monday demonstrated how a
spacecraft returning to Earth can use an inflatable heat shield
to slow and protect itself as it enters the atmosphere at
hypersonic speeds. The Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment,
or IRVE, was vacuum-packed into a 15-inch diameter payload
"shroud" and launched on a small sounding rocket from NASA's
Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., at 8:52 a.m.
EDT. The 10-foot diameter heat shield, made of several layers of
silicone-coated industrial fabric, inflated with nitrogen to a
mushroom shape in space several minutes after liftoff. The Black
Brant 9 rocket took approximately four minutes to lift the
experiment to an altitude of 131 miles. Less than a minute later
it was released from its cover and started inflating on schedule
at 124 miles up. The inflation of the shield took less than 90
seconds. "Our inflation system, which is essentially a glorified
scuba tank, worked flawlessly and so did the flexible
aeroshell," said Neil Cheatwood, IRVE