Speaker
Description
Sustainable development based on innovative solutions for existing technologies can be promoted by shifting the resource base of the space industry towards renewable, bio-based raw materials for material-intensive applications and thus enhancing a bioeconomy in space by greener technologies.
Bio- and wood-based materials are promising for the use as a thermal protection system (TPS) material for hot structures such as the leading edges of stabilising fins, fairings, nose cones and other TPS applications due to their relatively low density, low thermal conductivity, easy handling and good ablative behaviour.
This contribution gives an insight on the design and the challenges of developing a bio-based thermal protection material, mainly consisting of natural fibres. First outlining the state of the art in the application of wooden and cork materials in launchers and spacecraft, and further presenting current research work on the bio-based thermal protection material TPSea. Thereby test results in the arc-heated wind tunnel L2K of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) will be presented next to thermal and mechanical screening tests. The measurements show a good suitability and indicate increased mechanical properties compared to state of the art TPS materials.
An insight will be given into the ongoing REXUS Experiment SHAMA (Sustainable Ablative Heat-protective Ablative Material), which will fly on REXUS 34 in 2025 with the aim of testing the feasibility of the TPSea material under the flight conditions of REXUS.
