Research progress in low-density ablative materials for thermal protection system of aerospace flight vehicles

Abstract

At present, ablation is still considered as one of the most effective, reliable, mature and economical thermal protection methods, which is widely used in thermal protection systems (TPS) of aerospace flight vehicles. Recent years, series of advanced lightweight ablative composites (LAC) were developed driven by major projects such as manned space flight, lunar exploration program, deep space exploration, and near space flight vehicles. Particularly, material's developing, engineering application and corresponding applied basic research of LACs filled in honeycombs and new LAC integrated ablation & insulation were emphatically introduced. Furthermore, complicated ablative mechanisms and synergistic effects of multiple thermal protection methods were explored. With the development of advanced TPS demand, multi-functionalization, compatibility and integration are the main development tendency of LAC for earth reentry or atmospheric entry aerospace flight vehicles.

Keywords

• ablation
• low-density
• aerogel
• multiple thermal protection
• multifunctional integration