As a spacecraft on a research mission hurtles at up to 100,000 miles per hour toward the surface of a gas giant like Jupiter, the atmospheric gases surrounding the spacecraft turn to plasma, and spacecraft temperatures increase to more than 10,000°F. Spacecraft destined for a high-temperature atmospheric entry use a heat shield designed to burn up at a controlled rate to keep excess heat from harming the scientific payload inside the craft. Ensuring that a heat shield can perform the intended function is a challenge, however, because those extreme conditions are difficult to replicate on Earth. Past heat shield testing approaches have used lasers, plasma jets, and hypervelocity projectiles, but no single method could simulate the heating conditions of a high-speed atmospheric entry.
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