Shuttle Heat Shield Views
NASA giving 7,000 shuttle heat shield tiles to schools and universities starting today The Huntsville Times - al.com Lee Roop, The Huntsville Times Beginning Wednesday, NASA is offering 7,000 shuttle heat shield tiles to schools and universities that want to share technology and a piece of space history with their students 4 12/01/2010 12/01/2010
Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) was developed by NASA Ames Research Center and was the primary TPS material for the Stardust aeroshell.[15] The Stardust sample-return capsule was the fastest man-made object ever to reenter Earth's atmosphere (12.4s km/s or 28,000 mph at 135e km altitude) This was faster than the Apollo mission capsules and 70% faster than the Shuttle.[16] PICA was critical for the viability of the Stardust mission. A PICA heat shield will also be used for the Mars Science Laboratory entry into the Martian atmosphere.
The filler materials are made of either white AB312 fibers or black AB312 cloth covers (which contain alumina fibers). These materials are used around the leading edge of the forward fuselage nose caps, windshields, side hatch, wing, trailing edge of elevons, vertical stabilizer, the rudder/speed brake, body flap, and heat shield of the shuttle's main engines.
Engineers at the Johnson Space Center are evaluating a small area of tile damage on the forward part of the shuttle Atlantis' right wing where it joins the ship's fuselage. The nicked tiles, apparently damaged during launch by a debris impact around 106 seconds after liftoff, were spotted Tuesday during a lengthy heat shield inspection by the Atlantis astronauts.
Shuttle Heat Shield Images
