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ACTA AERONAUTICAET ASTRONAUTICA SINICA ›› 2019, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (8): 22792-022792.doi: 10.7527/S1000-6893.2019.22792

• Review • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Development status and trend of thermal protection structure for return capsules and space probes

XIE Weihua, HAN Guokai, MENG Songhe, YANG Qiang, JIN Hua   

  1. National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Advanced Composites in Special Environments, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150080, China
  • Received:2018-11-13 Revised:2019-02-25 Online:2019-08-15 Published:2019-04-28
  • Supported by:
    National Basic Research Program of China (2015CB655200); National Natural Science Foundation of China (11672088); Foundation of National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Reliability and Environmental Engineering (6142004180303)

Abstract: In view of the demand of thermal protection system for China space transportation system and deep space exploration, domestic and international studies on development and status of thermal protection materials and structures for return capsules and space probes are reviewed, focusing on the design idea and the performance characteristics of representative materials and structures including honeycomb reinforced thermal protection materials, fiber reinforced thermal protection materials, combined thermal protection structures, and deployable thermal protection structures. On this basis, the development tendency and obstacles of the materials and structures are analyzed, showing that fiber reinforced thermal protection materials have predominance in structural weight and the seam design is the important obstacle to the corresponding structure development. Moreover, on the basis of existing materials, the combined thermal protection structure design is becoming an effective method for improving the efficiency of thermal protection structure. The deployable thermal protection structures are expected to significantly enhance the payload of spacecraft; however, the flexible thermal protection materials still need to be developed. Generally, more frequent space transportation and development of deep space exploration will play an important role in promoting the development of thermal protection structures.

Key words: space transportation system, deep space exploration, ablative materials, thermal protection structures, structural performance

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