Overview about EFESTO

Re-entry vehicles are critical elements in space missions that require bringing a payload from space to ground on a planetary body with an atmosphere. The hypersonic conditions in a dense atmosphere generate a plasma flowfield around the entry vehicle resulting in extreme thermal heat fluxes and thermal heat loads. This is the most important challenge for the thermal control of a re-entry vehicle: the payload must be protected from this harsh environment by a Thermal Protection System (TPS) in order to keep it within a range of safe conditions.

The TPS of a re-entry vehicle is the single element that best benefits of advancements in materials, structure and thermal control.

Development of an inflatable TPS requires progresses and synergies in all these technological domains, indeed, a flexible TPS is not only required to survive reasonably high heat fluxes but also to be durable enough to endure the rigors of construction, handling, packing and morphing during its operational life.

For these reasons, the following activities are proposed for the EFESTO project:

  • a design phase (preliminary and detailed) with the objective of identifying relevant mission scenarios in order to characterize the operative environment for the thermal protection system;
  • a range of tests with the objective of covering two critical technology domains (like NASA is doing in HIAD program):
    • the thermal characterization of the flexible thermal blanket, that will be tested in arcjet facility (in both Earth and Martian environments);
    • the full structure system inflation at 1:2 scale (ground tests to explore the morphing dynamics and materials response from packed to fully inflated configuration).
  • a tests results analyses and models validation activity with the objective of comparing test results with numerical models to improve the predictions at materials, structural and aerothermodynamics levels;
  • a consolidated design phase with the objective of using validated numerical models to perform a future In-Orbit-Demonstration (IOD) mission and system concept.