Engineering Challenge:
Thermal Protective System
Lisa Brown
Aerospace Education Specialist
NASA-Johnson Space Center
Thermal Protective
System (TPS)
•Re-entry
•1650°C (3000°F)
•Common TPS
TPS: How it works.
• Absorption
• High melting point
• Radiation
Ceramic Tiles
Other TPS Systems
Heat and Heat
Transfer
•Heat is energy.
•Direction of heat flow.
•Heat source and heat sink.
•Conduction
•Convection
•Radiation
Specific Heat
•the amount of heat necessary to
move 1.00 gram of a substance
1.00 °C
•Note the two important factors:
1) It's 1.00 gram of a substance
2) and it moves 1.00 °C
Thermal Conductivity
and Heat Capacity
The Challenge
Build a thermal protection system
(TPS), using the specified materials,
that protects the model for the
longest possible time.
Design Constraints:
•Use only the specified materials to
construct the TPS.
•No glue may be used in the TPS itself
•No part of the TPS may touch the dowel.
•No part of the TPS may touch the glue.
The Model
The Test
The Report