%0 Conference Paper %B 68th Annual Conference, Wichita, Kansas %D 2009 %T 3464. Innovative, Robust and Reusable Acreage TPS for Space Launch, Re-Entry and Hypersonic Vehicles %A Luce, Thomas L. %K 27. Weight Reduction - Materials %X A new generation of orbital launch, re-entry and hypersonic air vehicles will likely demand significantly more robust reusable thermal protection systems (TPS) than earlier and existing vehicles. Not only will these newer TPS need to perform under the extreme external skin heating conditions inherent to very high speed air travel, but they will have to do so while being significantly less difficult and costly to operate than existing systems. Whether one intends to fly at supersonic (i.e., ~ Mach 1-5), hypersonic (i.e., ~ Mach 5+), or re-entry speeds (e.g., ~ Mach 7 for boosters and ~ Mach 25+ for atmospheric re-entry vehicles), intermittently or continuously, at elevated altitudes or low, vehicle outer moldlines (OML) experience significant external aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic heating. Myriad issues such as reusability, flight profile, mission requirements and maintenance needs all play important roles in determining the types of TPS materials and designs desired for particular vehicles. These factors all have direct and significant implications regarding the weight, cost, and performance of the overall vehicle design. An array of new launch & re-entry as well as hypersonic vehicle concepts and related technologies is being developed with cooperation among and competition between various industry (e.g., Northrop Grumman Corporation) military (e.g., U.S. Air Force) and civilian (e.g., NASA) players. Even within the already-weight-sensitive aerospace industry (where higher marginal vehicle mass usually translates to lower payload weight and reduced mission capability) developers of new launch, re-entry and hypersonic vehicles are especially interested in weight issues. Of particular interest in this paper is some of the continuing work aimed at improving upon space-shuttle-era TPS technologies, that mitigate shuttle-like TPS durability and maintenance shortcomings while retaining similar weight and thermal characteristics. In order to provide some context and perspective for this discussion, this paper presents selected background information regarding where severe vehicle requirements come from as well as relevant insights provided by several relatively familiar historical systems including the Apollo return capsule, Space Shuttle, and X-33. %B 68th Annual Conference, Wichita, Kansas %C Wichita, Kansas %P 21 %8 5/16/2009 %U https://www.sawe.org/papers/3464/buy %9 27. Weight Reduction - Materials %M 3436 %L 27 %1 Non-Member Price: $20.00; Member Price: $10.00 Members: First 10 product downloads are Free. %2 10.00 %3 20 %4 SAWE3464