NASA funds the development of plasma "parachutes"

When released into the atmosphere, spacecraft heat up very much

The space agency NASA ordered the development of parachutes from plasma from two companies at once, having fully financed its order (by itself). Now, if a spacecraft enters the atmosphere, a special unit will create a magnetic field around the satellite.

When the plasma is ejected by the apparatus, the plasma will be captured by a magnetic field, and as a result, something like a protective bubble will form that prevent the apparatus from colliding with air, with subsequent heating of the skin to a very high temperature. Such a bubble, firstly, reduces the speed of the fall of the apparatus, and secondly, prevents significant heating of the body of the apparatus that enters the atmosphere.
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At present, thermal insulation is being installed on all sorts of probes and spacecraft, which allows to protect the device from overheating. Usually only the skin is heated, which takes over the maximum "heat stroke". When any part of the plating (even very insignificant) fails, the ship faces complete destruction as a result of overheating and all systems fail. Here we can recall the crash of the Columbia shuttle, the cause of which was the destruction of the outer heat-shielding layer on the left plane of the shuttle's wing. When starting on January 16th, this section of thermal protection was damaged by the fall of a piece of thermal insulation of an oxygen tank on it.

The test of the new system will take place in 2015, with the CubeSat microsatellite ( MSNW ). The device will be equipped with a copper coil, which will create a sufficiently powerful magnetic field around the device (the energy required for operation will be supplied by a lithium battery, also installed in the device). When the machine is lowered, a small amount of plasma should be thrown out, which will be captured by the magnetic field, and as a result, a protective “bubble” will be created that prevents the collision of air molecules with the device. In 2015, the satellite will be delivered to the ISS, and from there it will be sent to Earth. The success of the mission will be only one result: when landing, the device will not burn in the atmosphere.

Now, air molecules entering the plasma cloud will be ionized, which will allow the magnetic field to trap ionized molecules. As a result, in a short time the device will have its own protective bubble, which can be called a gas parachute. Such a “parachute” performs two important tasks at once: it slows down the fall of the vehicle and significantly reduces the heating of the hull.

If all goes well, this method of protecting the ship during a descent will also be used in much larger spacecraft, including landing modules with a team of astronauts who return from space.

Via newscientist