Thermal/Shock Isolation System and Materials for CAV Paylaod

CAV is a concept for a hypersonic maneuvering reentry vehicle that brings a payload through the atmosphere from (sub)orbital trajectory. A key technology need for CAV and other hypersonic vehicles is durable, lightweight insulation that isolates high temperature, shock, vibration, and acoustic loads. In Phase I, Ocellus proposed an exceptional new composite material to meet or exceed CAV requirements, called BRIA. Phase I demonstrated feasibility of BRIA and the Phase II effort builds on this work to increase the Technology Readiness Level leading to flight readiness, integration into system design(s) and flight test. Using the physical properties data, computational model, and new design insights from Phase I, the Phase II effort expands the number and type of BRIA forms and manufacturing, expands testing to environmentally relevant conditions, develops integration methods for BRIA, and develops an enhanced design tool. While the Phase II effort is focused on high temperature insulation for CAV, it is clear that this technology has the potential to impact broader military opportunities such as the recently announced FALCON program which is seeking technologies that can evolve to provide a near-term operational capability (CAV/SLV) and enable development of a reusable HCV and ECAV for the far-term.