Illustration of spacecraft re-entry

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   Fraser Cain (fraser@m.universetoday.com)'s status on Saturday, 03-May-2025 07:17:00 JST Fraser Cain

   Returning to Earth is a free ride, using the friction of the atmosphere to shed enormous velocity. But re-entering spacecraft build up high temperatures on their exteriors, which can destroy them (remember the Columbia disaster)? A team of engineers is investigating how a trick of nature—sweating—could work during spacecraft re-entry. A spacecraft would create a layer of gas on its surface that would cool the spacecraft and prevent direct contact with the hot gases.

   https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1082474