NASA’s 3D woven carbon fabric heat shield folds like an umbrella

NASA’s latest design for a spacecraft heat shield is an umbrella-like mechanical aeroshell design made of flexible 3D woven carbon fabric. The fabric is stretched over deployable ribs and struts, which become rigid when fully flexed. The carbon fabric skin covers its structural surface, and serves as the primary component of the entry, descent, and landing thermal protection system. Thea thick mat of 3D-woven carbon fibers keeps the payload cool by re-radiating the heat before it can pass through the insulating textile.