Inflatable Systems for Aerocapture and Aerobraking

This work has primarily focused on establishing scenarios where inflatable devices could be the most useful. Given that these missions rely on aerodynamic drag that results in (potentially significant) heating, the authors have sought to find solutions to minimize heat fluxes acting on the device surface, and especially keeping it within the limits of flexible/foldable TPS materials for the aerocapture scenario. A second key challenge has been to minimize the mass per unit area, given that the most important way in which an inflatable contributes to a lower heating is by having a large surface (ensuring aerodynamic braking occurs at a lower atmospheric density).