In-Space Propulsion (ISP Aerocapture) - ILC Dover

ILC Dover in conjunction with Ball Aerospace, NASA Langley Research Center, NASA Johnson Space Center, Georgia Institute of Technology, and University of Virginia performed a technology development program intended to study and design a decelerator for delivering a payload to the Saturn moon, Titan.

Design trades for clamped versus trailing ballutes were performed. Pictures of both concepts can be seen to the right. Materials were evaluated and traded for applicability in this application. Additionally, high temperature material testing was performed on candidate materials. A high temperature seaming method was developed during this program for high temperature films.

During this program several sub-scale test articles were produced from high temperature films for testing in a hypersonic wind tunnel. PBO and Upilex films along with high temperature seaming methods were evaluated at Mach 10.