Trial by fire: 12 student-built capsules test new heat shields during re-entry
In the KREPE-3 experiment, NASA and the University of Kentucky are testing 12 capsules with new heat shield materials, carried by a Cygnus cargo ship on its way to burning up.
Photo: NASA Johnson Space Center / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
Video: YouTube · University of Kentucky · youtube.com
When Northrop Grumman's Cygnus XL cargo ship from the CRS-24 mission undocked from the International Space Station, it carried 12 small experimental capsules. They belong to the Kentucky Re-entry Probe Experiment (KREPE-3), the third in a series of low-cost missions, NASA said on October 9. University of Kentucky students designed the capsules; they are to be ejected as the cargo ship breaks apart in the atmosphere and send data on temperature, pressure, motion, magnetic field and light via satellite.
The materials under test include a 3D-printed heat shield from NASA Johnson and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the MERINO material made of stitched carbon and phenolic fibres from Ames Research Center, the proven PICA heat shield on a capsule shaped like the Dragonfly aeroshell, and the umbrella-like deployable shield ADEPT. Proven ceramic tile material like that used on the space shuttle is also on board, and a heat flux sensor comes from the University of Stuttgart. “We’re essentially hitching a ride on a vehicle that’s already coming back to Earth,” says NASA materials engineer Keith Peterson.
The University of Kentucky invited the public to follow the re-entry data live on October 12; NASA's announcement did not yet report any results. A University of Kentucky video shows the university's capsule experiments.