NASA’s Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle heat shield candidate materials have just been tested under intense heat conditions, to see how they would hold up during Orion’s return and re-entry from a lunar mission. Philip Lorenz III reports that NASA engineers who specialize in arc heater testing teamed with the Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tennessee to modify the center’s High Enthalpy Aerothermal H2 test facility to accommodate the testing.
Air Force depots are not typically meant for quick repair jobs, but during Operation Epic Fury, the service moved some of its stateside heavy maintenance capability forward to fix battle-damaged aircraft closer to the fight.
