NASA to test inflatable heat shield on July 21

IRVE-3 artist's concepts composite. Photo: NASA/AMA.

WALLOPS ISLAND, VIRGINIA (BNS): NASA Space Technology Programme researchers will launch and deploy a large inflatable heat shield aboard a rocket travelling at hypersonic speeds during a technology demonstration test this weekend.

The Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3) test is designed to demonstrate lightweight, yet strong, inflatable structures that could become practical tools for exploration of other worlds or as a way to return items safely to Earth from the International Space Station.

During this technology demonstration test flight, NASA's IRVE-3 payload will try to re-enter Earth's atmosphere at hypersonic speeds -- Mach 5, or 3,800 mph to 7,600 mph, NASA said.

The IRVE-3 experiment will fly aboard a three-stage Black Brant XI launch vehicle for its suborbital flight. The payload and the heat shield, which looks like a large, uninflated cone of inner tubes, will be packed inside the rocket's 22-inch-diameter nose cone. About six minutes after launch, the rocket will climb to an altitude of about 280 miles over the Atlantic Ocean.

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