IGF::OT::IGF THE HEATSHIELD FOR EXTREME ENTRY ENVIRONMENT (HEEET) PROJECT, FUNDED BY NASA'S SPACE TECHNOLOG…

Public award description

IGF::OT::IGF THE HEATSHIELD FOR EXTREME ENTRY ENVIRONMENT (HEEET) PROJECT, FUNDED BY NASA'S SPACE TECHNOLOGY MISSION DIRECTORATE UNDER THE GAME CHANGING DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (GCDP), IS AN ELEMENT WITHIN THE ADVANCED ENTRY DESCENT AND LANDING MATERIALS (AEDLM) PROJECT WITHIN GCDP. UNDER THIS STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW), THE HEEET PROJECT SEEKS TO MATURE A GAME CHANGING WOVEN THERMAL PROTECTION SYSTEM (TPS) TECHNOLOGY TO ENABLE IN-SITU ROBOTIC SCIENCE MISSIONS RECOMMENDED BY THE NASA RESEARCH COUNCIL (NRC) PLANETARY SCIENCE DECADAL SURVEY (PSDS) COMMITTEE. RECOMMENDED SCIENCE MISSIONS INCLUDE VENUS PROBES AND LANDERS, SATURN AND URANUS PROBES, AND HIGH SPEED SAMPLE RETURN MISSIONS. DUE TO THEIR EXTREME ENTRY ENVIRONMENTS, MOST OF THESE MISSIONS ARE LIMITED TO HERITAGE-LIKE MATERIALS SUCH AS CARBON PHENOLIC (CP) AS THEIR ONLY TPS SOLUTION. HERITAGE CP, DUE TO ITS INHERENT PROPERTIES, CONSTRAINS THE MISSION TRADE SPACE AND IN THE LONG TERM POSES SIGNIFICANT SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES. SINCE THERE IS NO OFF-THE-SHELF HERITAGE CP AVAILABLE CURRENTLY CERTIFIED FOR NASA MISSIONS, EXTENSIVE DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS WILL HAVE TO BE CARRIED AS PART OF MISSION PROPOSALS LEADING TO HIGHER RISK OF NOT BEING SELECTED UNDER THE COMPETED PROCESS. THE GOAL OF HEEET IS TO DEVELOP A WOVEN TPS TECHNOLOGY TO TRL 5/6 THAT WILL PROVIDE AN ALTERNATE TPS SOLUTION FOR THESE MISSIONS, BUYING DOWN SOME OF THE DEVELOPMENT RISKS FOR FUTURE MISSIONS. FURTHERMORE, WOVEN TPS IS A SCIENCE ENABLER THAT WILL ALLOW FOR VERY HIGH RETURN ON THE INVESTMENT MADE BY BOTH NASA SPACE TECHNOLOGY MISSION DIRECTORATE (STMD) FOR ENABLING TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AS WELL AS SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE (SMD) ON THE SCIENCE SIDE UNDER NEW FRONTIER (NF) OR DISCOVERY PROGRAMS. IN COLLABORATION WITH SMD LEADERSHIP THAT SUPPORTS THIS EFFORT AND WITH NF / DISCOVERY PROPOSING ORGANIZATIONS AND THEIR PRINCIPLE INVESTIGATORS, HEEET WILL DEVELOP WOVEN TPS HEATSHIELD ARCHITECTURES TO TRL 5/6 BY 2016/2017.