New Research Shows Nitrogen-Rich Atmospheres Erode Heat Shields

Heat shields are designed to protect the surface and cargo of a spacecraft as it enters an atmosphere. Aerospace engineers in The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign recently observed a violently destructive difference in how heat shields function in atmospheres like Earth that contain oxygen versus nitrogen-rich atmospheres such as Venus and Titan, one of Saturn’s moons.

The surface of the heat shield is designed to breathe—expelling chemically reacting gases to slough off...