NASA said the LOFTID test of an inflatable heat shield, seen here after recovery form the Pacific, was a success. Credit: NASA/Greg Swanson WASHINGTON — The success of a NASA project last year to ...

NASA said it had successfully tested an inflatable heat shield designed to slow and protect spacecraft as they blast through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds. The 1,400lb, Inflatable Re-entry ...

NASA successfully tested an inflatable heat shield prototype Monday (July 23), a technology that could one day be used for future space exploration missions, including landing humans on Mars, its ...

The path for humans to Mars could be paved by University at Buffalo students. A team of five UB student engineers developed plans for a massive inflatable heat shield designed to protect spacecraft – ...

A large inflatable heat shield developed by NASA’s Space Technology Program has successfully survived a trip through Earth’s atmosphere while travelling at hypersonic speeds up to 7,600 mph. The ...

Many of the places NASA wants to send future crewed and uncrewed missions have an atmosphere, which is problematic if you want your payload to reach the surface in one piece. Entering an atmosphere ...

HOT AIR: This weekend NASA will test a large, inflatable heat shield aboard a suborbital rocket launched from the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle ...

Good news for wannabe astronauts everywhere: NASA has developed a new heat shield concept that, instead of using the usual thermal tiles, is inflatable. They tested it successfully in a launch from ...

The Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, or LOFTID, spacecraft is pictured after its atmospheric re-entry test in November 2022. Credit: NASA / Greg Swanson The Low-Earth Orbit ...

The inflatable heat shield will have a parachute for a safe landing in the ocean, but it will also eject a data recorder to ensure engineers get everything they need from the test. Now read: ...

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. — NASA says a successful small-scale test of an inflatable heat shield holds promise for future planetary missions. The Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment was launched Monday ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The path for humans to Mars could be paved by University at Buffalo students. A team of five UB student engineers developed plans for a massive inflatable heat shield designed to ...