If you (theroetically) had a spaceship that was able to slow its descent?

Question

thru earths atmosphere to say, about 500mph, would a heat shield still be necessary?

Answer 1

That would take immense power.

So, say the engines fail, or malfunction. That heat shield might come in handy.

Answer 2

I would say (NO) . The problem is that the shuttle is already traveling thousands of miles per hour. The Shuttle does not have its own propulsion system that would permit it to fly like a plane so when it comes back in our atmosphere it needs all of the momentum that it can muster (because it is a glider) to reach its intended target and because it have to travel at such high speeds it needs those shields but if platform was built that can fly like a plane and and still slow down enough I believe that the shields would not be needed. I believe that in our distant future that we will develop a magnetic propulsion system that will permit movements in all types of atmospheres permitting us to move from the surface and reach space and back to the surface without the use of rockets as we know it today.. There are documented instances where Jet planes skirt at the edge of the atmosphere and space but could not go further because of the planes design. For one, the conventional jet fuel need oxygen to burn efficiently, the higher you go the less dependable that fuel source is, also those aircraft are not built to perform in a zero oxygen environment but the planes that have reached the edge of space managed to make it back to the ground without heat shields. I hope my crazy answer is close to what you are hunting for. Adub.

Answer 3

No, because the extreme heat is due to extreme friction of the air hitting the spacecraft. Somehow being able to slow the descent would allow you to re-enter without a heat shield. It is worth pointing out that most spaceships would need so much fuel to do so that its far more economical to have a heat shield. Although, SpaceShipOne didn't have a heat shield but was able to bend (feather) its wings in such a way that it remained in fairly slow flight during re-entry.

Answer 4

Jet aircraft fly at altitude at 500+ mph as it is. They don't require heat shielding on the front of the jet. It's not normally necessary until you start approaching Mach 1+ or better, I think. Over 720 mph.

Answer 5

Not yet but we're working on it. Theoretically nothing is impossible. Theoretically it was impossible to go faster than the speed of sound only six decades ago. Burt Rutan and his Space Ship One are on the right track though. Burt is an aviation genius if you want to google somebody interesting. He looked at the problem of heat during re entry at high speed and just thought to himself, "Hell, we'll just slow the sucker down". Problem solved. Some of the most complex problems have the simplest solutions huh?

Answer 6

No. If you can control your forward speed (orbital speed) without fear/threat of loosing altitude and rate of descent, then you won't need heat shields because you would be able to enter the atmosphere at any comfortable speed (way below 17,500 mph low-orbit-hold minima). Having altitude control at 500 mph while entering the atmosphere would be nice...eating your cake and having it (Starship-style)...cool.

Answer 7

That would depend on the angle of attack, and the aerodynamics of the craft. Once you got that slow, the bounce effect would be negated, and it would simply be a navigational issue, as far as how fast the descent rate vs direction, in relation to heat.

Answer 8

Yes, because in order to de-orbit the craft from an orbital velocity (something like 18K mph), you need something to ablate and dispose of the heat generated during reentry.

Answer 9

going to slow will cause you to bounce off the atmosphere...you have to punch your way through it...

Answer 10

no