Origami Heat Shield: Reusable for re-entry

A new origami-based heat shield developed with support from the European Space Agency (ESA) is planned to be tested with actual atmospheric re-entry from space. Named Brydwin, after the legendary shield of King Arthur, this reusable design will appear before the spacecraft re-enters the atmosphere.

As the spacecraft begins to return to Earth and encounters the atmosphere, its orbital velocity turns into heat fluxes so high that an unprotected spacecraft simply burns out. who is in it heat shields Enter.

Standard “draft” heat shields remove unwanted heat by gradually burning portions of the shield. Rather than ablation, Pridwen relies on radiation: its metallic, high-temperature texture has a sufficiently high surface area Heat flow It can spread evenly across it to gradually radiate heat away.

Pridwen’s feather-style shield will also slow the satellite enough that it can survive the landing without a parachute. Its manufacturer, Space Forge in Cardiff, UK, plans to capture satellites with a hovering net.

The heat shield has undergone multiple drop tests from a height of up to 17 km and exercises net capture of test items falling into terminal velocity. The company developed Pridwen as part of a larger vision of in-orbit manufacturing of high-value commodities such as pharmaceuticals, superconductors, and superalloys, to bring them back to Earth on a routine basis.

First Brydwin Heat shield Flight on the company’s inaugural ForgeStar-1A mission is planned for later this year.