Issued patent
Multifunctional Ablative Thermal Protection System
An issued NASA patent from the Technology Transfer catalog.
About this technology
Overview
NASA has developed a unique and robust multifunctional material called 3DMAT that meets both the structural and thermal performance needs for a lunar return mission and beyond. The 3DMAT Thermal Protection System (TPS) uses a game-changing woven technology tailored to the needs of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) compression pad in order to support the lunar return mission, EM-1, and beyond. Compression pads serve as the interface between the crew module and service module of the Orion MPCV. The compression pads must carry the structural loads generated during launch, space operations, and pyroshock separation of the two modules. They must also serve as an ablative TPS withstanding the high heating of Earth re-entry. 3DMAT leverages the NASAs investment in woven TPS to design, manufacture, test, and demonstrate a prototype material for the Orion compression pads that combines the weaving of quartz yarns with resin transfer molding.