NASA successfully tested an inflatable heat shield prototype Monday (July 23), a technology that could one day be used for future space exploration missions, including landing humans on Mars, its ...

The path for humans to Mars could be paved by University at Buffalo students. A team of five UB student engineers developed plans for a massive inflatable heat shield designed to protect spacecraft – ...

NASA said the LOFTID test of an inflatable heat shield, seen here after recovery form the Pacific, was a success. Credit: NASA/Greg Swanson WASHINGTON — The success of a NASA project last year to ...

NASA said it had successfully tested an inflatable heat shield designed to slow and protect spacecraft as they blast through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds. The 1,400lb, Inflatable Re-entry ...

When a large experimental heat shield inflated in space and faced the brutal reentry of Earth's atmosphere last week, the aeroshell survived — and NASA officials have deemed it a "huge success." When ...

HOT AIR: This weekend NASA will test a large, inflatable heat shield aboard a suborbital rocket launched from the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle ...

Good news for wannabe astronauts everywhere: NASA has developed a new heat shield concept that, instead of using the usual thermal tiles, is inflatable. They tested it successfully in a launch from ...

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Devising a way to one day land astronauts on Mars is a complex problem and NASA scientists think something as simple as a child's toy design may help solve the problem. Safely ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The path for humans to Mars could be paved by University at Buffalo students. A team of five UB student engineers developed plans for a massive inflatable heat shield designed to ...