Entry Vehicle Heating and Thermal Protection Systems: Space Shuttle, Solar Starprobe, Jupiter Galileo Probe

Public attention on recent space activities has been dominated by the Space Shuttle flights. These apparently routine flights with the reusable 110 ft long Shuttle Orbiter dramatize the enormous progress that has evolved in only 25 years since the world's first artificial, medicine-ball-sized satellite was launched. This volume provides a benchmark reference for the aerodynamic heating prediction theories and thermal protection system (TPS) design and test techniques as they existed on the quarter-century anniversary of the space era. Also individual papers point the way to continuing improvements in these thermophysical fields that will be confirmed during flights in the next several years.