NASA sent a giant inflatable device to space and then brought it back down in the ocean.
The people in charge of the mission don't want you to think it's a bouncy castle.
Neil Cheatwood, the principal investigator for the LOFTID, said that the comparison would be incorrect.
The $93 million project shows an intriguing technology that could help NASA in its goal of getting people to the surface of Mars someday. The current approach to landing on Mars only works for a small amount of the total weight of a small car.
It's not enough for the larger landers, carrying 20 tons or more, that are needed for people and the supplies they will need on the red planet.
It is possible that the device is 20 feet wide when inflated. It is made of layers of fabric that can survive falling into the atmosphere at 18,000 miles an hour.
An inflatable heat shield is similar to a bouncy castle in that it can be folded and packed tight. LOFTID was four feet wide and one and a half feet tall. There is no way to cram 20 feet in diameter into a rocket that is not large.
As it slices through the upper atmosphere, a larger surface such as LOFTID's creates a better brake as it slows down heavier objects. The inflatable heat shield would be combined with other systems to help guide the landers to a soft landing.
Dr. Cheatwood said that a heat shield of about 30 feet in diameter would be required.
The LOFTID team didn't have a lot to do on Thursday. There is an Atlas V rocket. The LOFTID systems were not turned on until an hour after the satellite was released in order to prevent problems with the main mission.
The joint polar satellite system-2 will measure energy from the planet through the atmosphere to improve weather forecasts.
The second stage of the rocket briefly fired its engine to get LOFTID oriented for re-entry after the weather satellite was deployed.
A set of nested doughnut-shape tubes popped out of the top of the rocket stage as compressed nitrogen gas inflated LOFTID's heat shield. The test craft for LOFTID was released from the rocket stage after it spun like a top for three revolutions per minute.
The LOFTID device was 500 miles from Hawaii after liftoff. A video taken from a recovery ship shows LOFTID splashing in the water after descending under a parachute.
The instrumentation lead for LOFTID said that everyone was just relieved and excited. On the way to the vehicle, he was on the recovery ship.
There were no materials that were strong enough to support inflatable heat shields.
According to Dr. Cheatwood, two decades ago, Steve Hughes, one of the lead engineers for LOFTID, read some papers about Russian attempts to make inflatable heat shields. He thought it was a great idea. We were the ones who pulled it together.
Ten years ago, there were three tests. The 10-foot wide inflatable shields were launched on suborbital rockets and fell down. The re-entry was much faster due to the LOFTID test doubling the diameter.
Dr. Cheatwood said that the technology is ready to be used on missions.
In addition to Mars, inflatable heat shields could be used to land on other planets.
A number of companies have expressed interest in the technology. He said that he wasn't going to sell it to them. They are contacting me.
The Atlas V rocket was used to launch LOFTID.
The United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, wants to eventually reuse parts of the next- generation rocket, which is expected to fly for the first time next year.
The company is not interested in landing the entire first stage.
The engine compartment at the back of the Vulcan booster would fall back to Earth with the help of a heat shield and parachutes. The descending engine compartment would be caught by a helicopter and taken to a ship. Rocket Lab is attempting to catch rocket parts in the air.
A small start-up called Outpost Space is looking to create a business that uses inflatable heat shield technology. The cost of launching satellites has fallen as a result of a number of new rocket companies. It's difficult to get anything back to Earth from the near-weightless environment of low-Earth. It can only be done with the International Space Station or perhaps China's new space station.
Many researchers and companies would prefer to avoid trips to and from a space station in favor of shorter trips to the moon.
The first demonstration of the system is planned for next year, according to Mr.Dunn.
The company's chief executive said that it was a small platform that allowed the payloads to operate and be exposed to the space environment. Then it comes back. It is almost like a small space station that just comes back after you have finished your mission.
The NASA inflatable heat shields were found by the Outpost team and they signed a contract to use them. A second inflatable system, a paraglider, can be deployed once the inflatable heat shield has shepherded the craft through the heat of re-entry.
The potential customers can't afford the space station round or they need to get it up and down quicker. We can get in space and back in a month with this system.
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