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A comment on Military Aircraft Hit Mach 20 Before Ocean Crash, DARPA Says. Parent comment

Re:Military Aircraft Hit Mach 20 Before Ocean Crash, DARPA Says by akavel on Thursday March 28, 2013 @09:32AM (#5454636)
And this: "[G]radual wearing away of the vehicle’s skin as it reached stress tolerance limits was expected. However, larger than anticipated portions of the vehicle’s skin peeled from the aerostructure."

And, dated: April 20, 2012

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Re:Military Aircraft Hit Mach 20 Before Ocean Crash, DARPA Says by iandh on Thursday March 28, 2013 @10:30AM (#5454934)
The "gradual wearing of the vehicle's skin" is called is called ablation.

Its a standard way both hyper sonic and reentry vehicles manage heat. Basically the skin boils off creating a pressure wave that the vehicle flights behind.

Wikipedia has a good description of it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_reentry#Ablative

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