SpaceX Qualifies Its PICA Ablator Material

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) will be able to shield its planned Dragon space capsule with its own Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) material, following arc-jet tests at NASA's Ames Research Center.

NASA helped the California-based startup develop its ability to manufacture PICA-X, as it calls the material, for use on the vehicle that may wind up providing commercial transportation to and from the International Space Station.

In the tests, the material withstood temperatures as high as 3,360 F and "equaled or improved the performance of the heritage material in all cases," according to Tom Mueller, SpaceX vice president for propulsion.

Initially SpaceX will use the material it produces on the Dragon and on the second stage of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle, which is being designed to return to Earth for reuse.

PICA material was used for the heat shield on NASA's Stardust comet sample return spacecraft, which at almost 29,000 mph was the fastest man-made object to fly in the atmosphere when it re-entered on Jan. 15, 2006.

The material also is the prime candidate to shield NASA's planned Orion crew exploration vehicle on re-entry.

Artist's concept of Dragon spacecraft: SpaceX