NASA is developing the Orion spacecraft to carry astronauts farther into the solar system than ever before, with human exploration of Mars as its ultimate goal. One of the technologies required to enable this advanced, Apollo-shaped capsule is a 3-dimensional quartz fiber composite for the vehicle's compression pad. During its mission, the compression pad serves first as a structural component and later as an ablative heat shield partially consumed upon Earth re-entry.<br/>This presentation will discuss the mission requirements for this novel material, manufacturing development of the 3D quartz / cyanate ester composite, relevant environment testing, and the overall status of development for the 2017 flight test.

Development of a 3D composite for NASA's Orion spacecraft compression pad

249th National Meeting (2015)

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