Video: Inflatable Heat Shield

This is a good idea for future Mars and Venus landers.

When a fast-falling spacecraft hits a planet's atmosphere, it gets red hot as it the atoms of gas bounce off it at thousands of miles per hour.

This is a good way to slow down a spacecraft.

But, the atmospheres of some planets, like Mars, is thin compared to Earth.  It's thick enough to cause damage from heating, but not quite thick enough to allow parachutes to slow the spaceship fully.

So here's a new idea: LOFTID.  LOFTID stands for Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator.

NASA says: "It acts like a giant brake by deploying a large inflatable aeroshell (a deployable structure protected by a flexible heatshield) before entering the atmosphere. The large aeroshell creates more drag and begins slowing down in the upper reaches of the atmosphere, allowing the spacecraft to decelerate sooner while experiencing less intense heating."

More info here: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/tdm/loftid/index.html

The last time Pip and I landed on Mars, we had to use rockets at the very end to slow us down enough for landing.  This kind of inflatable shield would save us a lot of fuel.  I like it!

If you have ideas about better ways to land on a planet, let me know at

RamoneRocketeer -at- gmail -dot- com.