Exploring spacecraft deceleration methods: While rigid heat shields and retropropulsion have been engineer favorites, NASA now experiments with inflatable heat shield technology, potentially enabling larger payloads for atmospheric worlds.
Watch as NASA's Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID), launching on Nov.
1 via a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NOAA’s JPSS-2 mission, showcases the heat shield's capacity to slow down and endure atmospheric entry.
Learn more at: https://go.nasa.gov/3N7yzBG.
Producers: Scott Bednar, Jessica Wilde; Editor: Daniel Salazar.
Credit: NASA.
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