"Integrity is projected to reenter Earth's atmosphere on Friday at approximately 7:45 P.M. traveling at nearly 24,000 miles an hour. Without a protective layer, anything inside the crew cabin could be exposed to temperatures as high as 5,000 degrees Celsius—twice the temperature of magma and hot enough to vaporize steel."
"Like all Orion capsules, Integrity has a heat shield made of AVCOAT, a mixture of silica, epoxy and resins that NASA also used for the original Apollo missions to the moon. AVCOAT protects a spacecraft by charring, melting and ablating away, carrying excess heat along with it."
NASA's Artemis II mission is concluding as the Orion capsule, named Integrity, prepares for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The reentry process is critical, as the capsule will travel at nearly 24,000 miles per hour, facing extreme temperatures that could reach 5,000 degrees Celsius. Engineers have designed a reentry trajectory and equipped the capsule with a heat shield made of AVCOAT, which protects the spacecraft by charring and ablating to manage heat. This technology has been adapted from the Apollo missions to ensure astronaut safety during reentry.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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