NASA Facts

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, Alabama 35812

Aerocapture Technology

NASA technologists are working to develop ways craft and placing it into an elliptical orbit—an oval
to place robotic space vehicles into long-duration, shaped orbit.
scientific orbits around distant Solar System des
tinations without the need for the heavy, on-board This nearly fuel-free method of decelerating a space
fuel loads that have historically inhibited vehicle vehicle could significantly reduce the mass of an
performance, mission duration and available mass interplanetary spacecraft. Less spacecraft mass
for science payloads. allows for more science instrumentation to be
added to the mission or allows for a smaller and
Aerocapture—a flight maneuver that inserts a less-expensive vehicle.
spacecraft into its proper orbit once it arrives at
a planet—is part of a unique family of “aeroas
sist” technologies under consideration to achieve
these goals and enable robust science missions
to any planetary body with an appreciable atmo
sphere. NASA fuels discoveries that make the world
smarter, healthier and safer.

Aerocapture technology is just one of many propul

sion technologies being developed by NASA tech
nologists and their partners in industry and academia,
led by NASA’s In-Space Propulsion Technology Office
at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,
Ala. The Center implements the In-Space Propulsion
Technology Program on behalf of NASA’s Science
Mission Directorate in Washington.

Aerocapture uses a planet’s or moon’s atmosphere

to accomplish a quick, near-propellantless orbit
capture to place a space vehicle in its proper orbit.
The atmosphere is used as a brake to slow down a
spacecraft, transferring the energy associated with
the vehicle’s high speed into thermal energy.

The aerocapture maneuver starts with an approach

trajectory into the atmosphere of the target body.
The dense atmosphere creates friction, slowing the Aerocapture entering Mars Orbit.
Diagram of Aerocapture maneuver overview.

Conceptual design of blunt body, rigid aeroshell.

The requirement to slow down a spacecraft for orbit insertion and
to protect it from the heating environment of a planet’s atmo of withstanding extremely high temperatures, and supporting
sphere—the gaseous area surrounding a planet that can vary structures that are lightweight, yet very durable.
greatly in temperature—could be achieved in two ways. The craft
could be enveloped by a structure with heat shielding applied to NASA has used this aeroshell system design in the past for
the external surfaces. Such rigid “aeroshells” were used during atmospheric entry missions. The most recent example is the
the entry and descent into Mars’ atmosphere, and the landing Mars Exploration Rovers—Spirit and Opportunity—which
on the planet’s surface by the Mars Exploration Rover mission launched in June and July 2003, and landed on the Martian
launched in 2003 and the Mars Pathfinder in 1997. Another surface in January 2004.
option could be for the vehicle to deploy an aerocapture device,
such as an inflatable heat shield or an inflatable, trailing bal Another example is the Apollo Command Module. The module was
lute—a combination parachute and balloon made of thin, durable used for six unmanned space flights from February 1966 to April
material and towed behind the vehicle after deployment. 1968 and continued through the final manned Apollo 17 lunar mis
sion in December 1972.
Four different aerocapture concepts under consideration for
development are:
• Blunt body, rigid aeroshell design Slender body, rigid aeroshell design
• Slender body, rigid aeroshell design The slender body configuration looks much like an elongated
• Trailing ballute design capsule, with a hard shell surrounding the spacecraft.
• Attached ballute design

Blunt body, rigid aeroshell design

The blunt body, rigid aeroshell system encases a spacecraft in a
protective shell. This shell could provide an aerodynamic surface
and protection from the intense heating experienced during high-
speed atmospheric flight. Once a space vehicle is captured into a
planet’s orbit, the aeroshell could then be jettisoned.
Conceptual design of slender, rigid aeroshell.
The aeroshell would consist of three main parts: the external
thermal protection material; adhesives, used to bond the thermal The enhanced controllability of a slender body shape could provide
protection system to the aeroshell; and an underlying structure, increased tolerance for navigational and atmospheric uncertain
to which the internal spacecraft and the outside thermal protec ties during the aerocapture maneuver. Preliminary studies indicate
tion material would be attached. The challenges facing research the slender body design may be required for robotic missions to
ers are to customize the design and thickness of the thermal Neptune and possibly other outer planetary destinations.
protection material to accommodate different heating character
istics endured during aerocapture, develop adhesives capable
Trailing ballute design attached ballute design could offer many of the same advantages
One of NASA’s investments in inflatable, deceleration technology and functionality as trailing ballute designs. The challenge facing
is a trailing ballute configuration. The design features a toroidal, researchers is to create a flexible, inflatable thermal protection sys
or donut-shaped, ballute that is much larger than the spacecraft tem that could protect the spacecraft from the high heat conditions
and is towed behind the craft—much like a parachute—to slow experienced during entry into a planet’s atmosphere.
a vehicle down. The “trailing” design also could allow for easy
detachment after the aerocapture maneuver is complete. The bal Researchers currently are assessing the benefits and application
lute itself could be made of a lightweight, thin-film material. of this concept for potential, future missions.

Potential aerocapture missions

NASA researchers are considering aerocapture technologies for
a broad range of future mission objectives.

The aerocapture maneuver has never been flight-tested. Relevant

experience, however, exists from ablative entry capsules, so
named because the top layer of the craft’s heat shield is designed
to burn away. Ablative entry technologies have been used
Conceptual design of trailing ballute.
throughout the history of the U.S. Space Program—including
the Apollo return capsule, used from 1963 until 1972 to return
The trailing ballute design may have performance advantages over
humans from the Moon and Earth orbits; and the Galileo Probe,
the rigid aeroshell design. In an aeroshell design, the shell takes all
launched in October 1989 on a 14-year mission to explore the
the force and heating of re-entry. However, with the trailing ballute
planet Jupiter and its surrounding moons.
design, the ballute would incur most of the aerodynamic forces
and heat, possibly allowing any protection around the payload to
Aerocapture is a systems technology in which many of the ele
be very lightweight. The design configuration also could be applied
ments already exist, or are evolved from developments in other
to various size and shape payloads.
aeroentry applications. The aeroshell and thermal protection
systems have heritage to those developed for past Earth, Venus,
Attached ballute design Mars and Jupiter missions. The ability to guide and control a
The attached ballute design looks much like the aeroshell or blunt body through an atmospheric exit maneuver was human-
blunt body design. The attached ballute is often referred to as rated for the Apollo- Earth return capsule as a weather-contin
a hybrid system, with a rigid foreshell and an inflated, attached gency plan, but was never exercised in flight.
ballute extending from either the front or back of the spacecraft.
NASA’s aeroassist technology development team includes Lang
ley Research Center in Hampton, Va.; Ames Research Center in
Moffett Field, Calif.; the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
Calif.; Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas; and the Marshall
Space Flight Center.

Aerocapture technology is being developed by the In-Space

Propulsion Technology Program, which is managed by NASA’s
Science Mission Directorate in Washington and implemented
Conceptual design of inflatable re-entry and descent technology at Earth orbit. by the In-Space Propulsion Technology Office at the Marshall
Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The program objective
The inflatable, attached ballute would extend from a rigid nose- is to develop in-space propulsion technologies that can enable
cap and work much like a parachute, providing a large surface or benefit near and mid-term NASA space science missions by
area to slow the spacecraft down to allow for an aerocapture significantly reducing cost, mass and travel times.
maneuver to occur. As the spacecraft approaches a planet’s
atmosphere, the ballute would inflate and then jettison once the For more information about NASA’s In-Space
craft is captured into orbit. Propulsion program and aerocapture research, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
Made of thin lightweight material, such as Kapton—a material often http://www.inspacepropulsion.com
used in multi-layered insulating (MLI) blankets—the inflatable,
 Explore. Discover. Understand.

May 2005 FS-2005-05-58-MSFC Pub 8-40404