NASA has just tested an umbrella-shaped heat shield that could soon be used on Mars

NASA is testing a collapsible umbrella heat shield that the space agency plans to use when it sends the first humans to Mars.

Called ADEPT (Adaptive Deployable Entry Placement Technology), the aircraft will be able to slow the descent and protect a spacecraft from the heat of the atmosphere.

"On a larger scale, it could be used for something as big as human explorations on Mars, or potentially human cargo landings on Mars," said Brandon Smith of NASA.

Aeroshell foldable

According to its creators, ADEPT is a revolutionary technology. The device can be folded and can be compressed into a rocket but, once fully deployed, it can provide a large heat shield wider than the diameter of the rocket that carries it.

The umbrella-shaped aerosol uses "a 3D woven carbon fabric skin stretched over ribs and deployable brackets" that acts as a protective agent of the spacecraft at the entrance.

"The carbon fabric has been the big recent advance for this technology because it uses pure carbon threads that are woven in three dimensions to give you a very durable surface," said Paul Wercinski, ADEPT Project Manager. "Carbon is a wonderful material for high temperature applications."

NASA hopes to use ADEPT in space missions that require large aerodromes to protect a spacecraft carrying a large and important payload to planetary surfaces. In addition to protecting a spacecraft from heat and pressure, the aircraft will also slow down entry without the need for larger rockets.

ADEPT tests

On Wednesday, September 12, NASA launched ADEPT using a Spaceloft suborbital rocket created by UP Aerospace. The test took place in a spaceport in New Mexico.

The aircraft was deployed between 100 and 120 kilometers above the ground. Then he separated from the rocket, opened like an umbrella and returned to the ground. He landed in the range of White Sands missiles.

The data recorded during the test have not yet been released, but NASA expects the aeroshell to descend at a maximum speed of three times the speed of sound or 2300 mph.

The space agency will then file ADEPT for re-entry at higher orbital speeds of about 17,000 miles per hour. Once ready to be deployed, the aeroshell will be used to send probes to Venus or Titan and, soon, to humans on Mars.

NASA plans to send a new vehicle to the red planet by 2020. The US government also hopes to send astronauts to the next planet by 2033.