Patent — available for licensing
Woven Thermal Protection System
A NASA invention available to explore as a licensing opportunity.
About this technology
Overview
NASA's Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology (HEEET) is a 3-D woven heatshield design made to efficiently reject extreme heating during space vehicle entry into a planetary atmosphere. HEEET is a system to protect probe or scientific payload. The technology presents a revolutionary approach to the designing and manufacturing of TPS materials. The woven TPS configuration, in both its material composition and architecture, can be adapted to cover a range of space vehicle and environment choices including vehicle entry velocity, vehicle entry flight path angle, initial time interval for vehicle deceleration, vehicle nose shape (e.g., blunt or wedge), initial entry pressure, heating rate (variable with time), cumulative heat load, time interval for heating, and relevant atmospheric characteristics, among other attributes.