Integration Laboratory

The solar furnace achieves high heat fluxes but over small areas.

Thermal protection systems are materials used to protect high velocity spacecraft and other vehicles from the intense heat generated when traveling through the atmosphere.  The high heat fluxes applied under these conditions are difficult to replicate on the ground.  

 

Recent work has focused on developing test methods and instrumentation to use facilities at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF) at Sandia National Laboratories to achieve the high heating fluxes (> 200 W/cm²) and temperatures (>2000 °C) necessary for testing these materials using concentrated sunlight.

At the NSTTF Solar Tower, the light from over 100 mirrors can be focused at a single point to achieve light intensities over 200 W/cm²

Solar Testing of Thermal Protection Systems