Inflatable spacecraft launch

From the creator

NASA's Langley Research Center is studying the idea of lightweight, compact, inflatable re-entry spacecraft ... an idea applauded by BIll Nye, "the science guy." A successful NASA Langley flight test in 2009 demonstrated how a spacecraft returning to Earth can use an inflatable heat shield to slow and protect itself as it enters the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds. The Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE), which when inflated looks like a 10-foot wide, silicon-coated Kevlar mushroom, was vacuum-packed into a 15-inch diameter payload "shroud" or retention bag. It launched on a small Black Brant 9 sounding rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va. The rocket took about four minutes to lift the experiment to an altitude of 131 miles. Less than a minute later it was released from its cover and started inflating on schedule at 124 miles up. As anticipated that inflation took less than 90 seconds.

Published 2011-02-10 · Watch on YouTube ↗
Availability and playback restrictions are controlled by the original channel.