Summary:
Describes the materials necessary to to build the body and any subsystems of space shuttle spacecraft, including power, structural, thermal, attitude control, propulsion, and payload. Examines recent problems of entry and re-entry faced by space probes.
The materials needed to build the body and any subsystems of spacecraft, including power, structural, thermal, attitude control, propulsion, and payload, must be carefully chosen. The materials and mediums chosen for building a spacecraft include ceramics, metals, polymers, semiconductors, carbon-fibres, adhesives, lubricants, paints and coatings. A diverse range of material is chosen to eliminate if not minimizing the weaknesses of each individual material such as ceramic being a strong heat resistor and insulator but due to its brittleness, metal, a much more ductile material is used to compensate for that weakness. Carbon-fibres provides strong tensile and shear resistance for the spacecraft when under intense G-forces and but also posses an economical weight-strength ratio. Ceramics, Metal (Aluminium alloy, low-carbon steel, titanium), and carbon-fibre reinforced composites are the most common type of materials included in the spacecraft's body.
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Read the rest of this Essay with our Problems of Entry and Re-entry for the Space Shuttle Access Pass.
