Re:U.S. Air Force has shot down multiple air-launched missil...
by wnkrshm on Tuesday May 07, 2019 @11:31AM
(#19850439)
I don't know anything about mechanical shock waves due to rapid heating in the material but in terms of the weight of an additional heat shields and their effectiveness I've found this:
AVCOAT 5026-39 which apparently is an ablative heat-shield material for NASA's Orion (and has been developed during the Apollo years) has a density of 0.51g/cm³ so about half the density of water and one fifth that of aluminum (of which a guided missile is made mostly, I believe).
From reading some reports of the performance of Apollo era heat shields it's clear though that reentry is a way more gentle affair in terms of thermal load, than a 50kW laser in a 1cm2 spot.
The endured peak heat flux per area is about 0,48 kW/cm2 for the heat shield, magnitudes off, if the 50kW laser can achieve a 1cm2 spot.
The total amount of heat flux the ablator was required to endure results in a total amount of heat energy/area of 0,0141 kWh/cm2 - which 50kW in a 1cm2 spot would saturate in about 1 second. Reentry lasted 800-1000 seconds.
AVCOAT 5026-39 which apparently is an ablative heat-shield material for NASA's Orion (and has been developed during the Apollo years) has a density of 0.51g/cm³ so about half the density of water and one fifth that of aluminum (of which a guided missile is made mostly, I believe).
From reading some reports of the performance of Apollo era heat shields it's clear though that reentry is a way more gentle affair in terms of thermal load, than a 50kW laser in a 1cm2 spot.
The endured peak heat flux per area is about 0,48 kW/cm2 for the heat shield, magnitudes off, if the 50kW laser can achieve a 1cm2 spot.
The total amount of heat flux the ablator was required to endure results in a total amount of heat energy/area of 0,0141 kWh/cm2 - which 50kW in a 1cm2 spot would saturate in about 1 second. Reentry lasted 800-1000 seconds.