Aeroshell

An aeroshell is a rigid heat shielded shell that protects an entry vehicle during spaceflight and from atmospheric drag during landing. The heat shield also serves to slow the craft during atmospheric entry. The back shell carries the load being delivered, along with important components such as a parachute, rocket engines, and monitoring electronics like an inertial measurement unit that monitors the orientation of the shell during parachute-slowed descent.

Aeroshells are a key component of interplanetary space missions. They were used in the Apollo program to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s, the 1975 Viking program to Mars, the 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission, the 2003 Mars Exploration Rover missions, the 2007 Mars Phoenix mission, and are scheduled for use in the Mars Science Laboratory mission in late 2009.

References

*
*
* [http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/02144/mars/spacecraft/aeroshells.htm Space travel guide]
* [http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Evolution_of_Technology/reentry/Tech19.htm Early Reentry Vehicles: Blunt Bodies and Ablatives]