A Lightweight Design Approach to An AtmosphericRe-entry Vehicle

摘要

A phenol CFRP ablator of a two-layer type that can simultaneously meet both the thermal protectionrequirement and the heat discharge requirement for a reentry capsule was developed. It also satisfies the strengthrequirement even if it is completely carbonized.Since the critical stress for the heat shield system using this two-layer type phenol CFRP is the thermal stressduring the capsule’s re-entry to the earth’s atmosphere, the thickness and the mechanical properties of theconstituent materials were optimized using an ablation analysis code with experimental approach.A new heat insulator (called a “thermal anchor”) containing metal foil can meet the heat discharge requirementon orbit to suitable value that also satisfies the thermal insulation requirement in the re-entry phase. The re-entrycapsule which adopts the two-layer type phenol CFRP ablator and the new “thermal anchor “ insulator can makethe heat shield system much lighter as compared with that by the conventional design technique.