Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

This heat-proof umbrella will keep ships from burning up in the Martian atmosphere

By

nasa successfully tests heat shield for future mars missions sprite c 2
NASA
With a real-life manned mission to Mars on the horizon for NASA (opposed to a Hollywood version of one), the agency has been hard at work researching and developing all the tech necessary to not only make the journey successful, but safe. To address one of the biggest elephants in the room regarding the inevitable trip, a team of engineers at NASA’s Ames Research Center just achieved a massive victory concerning the problem of dealing with extreme heat upon entering Mars’ atmosphere. Not only did they manufacture a material which preserves precious rocket space, but one that also remains flexible and durable at temperatures measuring roughly 3,100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Called Adaptive Deployable Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT), NASA’s latest tech (according to the agency itself) is essentially a flexible, heat-resistant umbrella. Made using carbon fabric, the engineers manufactured ADEPT to mechanically deploy over a Mars-bound spaceship as it prepares to enter the planet’s atmosphere. Just this week, tests run on the innovative fabric showed it possesses the ability to hold up to conditions incredibly similar to what actually entering the planet would consist of.

HeatShield2
NASA
NASA
Recommended Videos

During the tests, engineers blasted extremely high-temperature air directly at the front of the heat shield which was attached to a water-cooled support arm. After the surface of ADEPT reached temperatures of around 3,100 degrees Fahrenheit — and produced the mesmerizing, colorful shock wave seen above — NASA declared the test a resounding success. The shield’s resin-infused protective layers perfectly decomposed throughout the experiment, successfully protecting its stitched fabric joints and avoiding degradation.

Related

Aside from simply testing the carbon fabric itself, NASA said it intends to use the data from the trial to verify how certain materials might react to various testing conditions. The information gathered during the initial run also allows the engineers to develop more extensive tests for ADEPT and its configuration, including the possibility for using it on missions it says are “bigger than anything NASA’s ever flown.”

In addition to all of NASA’s recent findings and achievements concerning the red planet, its latest technological innovation with ADEPT brings it even closer to stepping an actual human foot on Mars. Though it likely won’t be a number of years before NASA actually embarks on such a harrowing journey, being the first generation to see someone other than an actor on Mars will be a truly extraordinary feeling.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Rick Stella
Rick Stella
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Rick became enamored with technology the moment his parents got him an original NES for Christmas in 1991. And as they say…
Watch NASA drop capsule from 1,200 feet to test Mars Sample Return system
Mars Sample Return drop test.

NASA has an ambitious plan to bring a piece of Mars back to Earth for study. Called the Mars Sample Return mission, the idea is to send a robotic team consisting of a lander, rover, and an ascent vehicle to the red planet to pick up samples being collected and sealed in tubes by the Perseverance rover. These samples will then be launched off the Martian surface and into orbit, where they'll be collected and brought back to Earth.

MSR EES MDU Drop: Side by Side

Read more
Watch this solar eclipse captured from Mars
solar eclipse captured from mars

NASA has shared remarkable footage of a solar eclipse captured by its Perseverance rover from the surface of Mars.

The video (shown in real-time below) was taken by Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z camera earlier this month and shows Phobos, Mars’ potato-shaped moon, passing across the face of the sun.

Read more
Look at what a NASA Mars orbiter spotted from 180 miles away
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

It was already impressive when NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) managed to spot the Perseverance rover soon after it landed on the martian surface last year.

Now the orbiter’s powerful High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera has somehow picked out Perseverance’s plucky traveling companion, the Ingenuity helicopter.

Read more