ENHANCED HEATSHIELD CAPABILITY FOR MARV APPLICATION

SEVERAL MATERIAL CONSTRUCTION CONCEPTS ARE PROPOSED FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE MANEUVERING REENTRY VEHICLE HEATSHIELD APPLICATIONS. RECENT ADVANCES IN HIGH TEMPERATURE RESINS, HIGH STRENGTH FIBERS, AND AUTOMATIC WEAVING TECHNIQUES TOGETHER WITH TAILORED PROCESSING METHODS PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR APPLICABLE DESIGN CONCEPTS. COMBINATIONS OF FIBER REINFORCED LOW DENSITY INSULATORS INTEGRATED INTO THREE-DIMENSIONALLY WOVEN ABLATORS USING HIGH STRENGTH FIBER PLACEMENTS FORM TYPICAL COMPOSITE STRUCTURES. THE GOAL IS TO DETERMINE THE REQUIREMENTS FOR AND DEVELOP THE ANALYTICAL CAPABILITY TO EVALUATE POTENTIAL MATERIAL COMPOSITE ARCHITECTURES WHICH WILL PERFORM AS EFFICIENT HP MARV HEATSHIELDS. PSI'S THERMAL ANALYZER CODES WILL BE EVALUATED AND MODIFIED TO OPERATE WITH A PC BASED CAD CODE TO PERFORM HEATSHIELD WEIGHT AND SIZING TRADEOFFS. PSI PROPOSES TO USE TEXTRON DEFENSE SYSTEMS AS A SUBCONTRACTOR TO PROVIDE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS AND MATERIAL DESIGN SUPPORT IN PHASE I AND FOR MATERIAL FABRICATION AND TEST SUPPORT IN PHASE II. THE SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THE PROPOSED EFFORT WILL PROVIDE THE ANALYTICAL PROCEDURES NEEDED TO EVALUATE THE THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF COMPOSITE HEATSHIELDS, THE DESIGN INPUT REQUIREMENTS, AND CANDIDATE MATERIAL CONCEPTS APPLICABLE TO HIGH PERFORMANCE REENTRY VEHICLE APPLICATION.