Low-density Flexible and Conformal Thermal Protection Systems Materials: A Review

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2022-1608.vid Ablative materials continue to be an integral part on spacecraft to combat the intense heat from atmospheric re-entry through ablation mechanisms to maintain the vehicle at an ambient temperature. Low-density thermal protection systems (TPS) materials are being developed and are evolving into flexible TPS materials that are identified with many benefits for overall improvement of vehicle design through ease of manufacturing and weight savings. This publication provides a review on the ongoing research efforts at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA), German Aerospace Center (DLR), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and others on this class of ablative material. This review discusses the material characteristics, methods for manufacturing the ablator, and some current numerical modeling of the product’s pyrolysis reactions as well ablative material response using SOTA ablation codes.