News SHEFEX - German active cooling program

[Shootingiron]

This is a fascinating active cooling experiment being conducted in Germany by DLR [German Space Agency] and has really caught my imagination. It uses sharp leading edges and porous ceramic-carbon fiber tiles to inject cryogenic nitrogen into to into the air around the vehicle as it renters the atmosphere.

I'll quote Project Manager Hendrik Weihs: "As the gas emerges, it forms a kind of cooling protective layer across the surface, preventing atmospheric gas from making direct contact with the spacecraft.

Just look look at this thing? As wild as it appears, the shape makes perfect sense. I really hope this project gets the support it warrants. It seems far more practical than other active cooling schemes involving kilometers of conduit and radiators.

It's kind of hard to track down much info, because it's a fairly low key program and most info is in German. However this is the DLR SHEFEX portal containing some dated info - http://www.dlr.de/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-728

 

[Fabri91]

The last article dates from the 6th May 2010, so either the program was closed with the short test described in the last article, or it was just wound down without much ado.

Either way, it is an interesting subject. The original SHEFEX was tested about six years ago, it appears (it was long before any substantial interest in spacecraft developed on my side, so I'm quite surprised to see it was actually done).

DLR is not "a company", it is the German Space Agency, or, more properly translated, the German research center for air- and space-travel/flight.

 

[Shootingiron]

DLR is not "a company", it is the German Space Agency, or, more properly translated, the German research center for air- and space-travel/flight.

Roger that, corrected. =)

The last article dates from the 6th May 2010, so either the program was closed ...

I think she is still running ... I did a search this morning for SHEFEX 3 (the test vehicle pictured in the first post) and found lots if interesting info.

This is a post from the Aviation Week dated 4/22/2011 Linky

This is a very informative brochure CHALLENGES OF THE INSTRUMENTATION FOR HIGH SPEED ENTRY VEHICLE

I have a busy weekend but I'll try to track down as much info as I can on my old smart phone and post again on Sunday.

 

[Urwumpe]

The official English name of DLR is "German Aerospace Center", aerospace is the correct translation of the term "Luft- und Raumfahrt", there is no single word for it in German.

And it is still running, they are planning a new campaign as far as I know.