Lightweight Thermal Protection SYstems

[CaseyKnight]

I remember reading that many aircraft, such as the B-58, A-12/SR-71 and the like used fuel as a heat-sink. There were also some aircraft and spacecraft designs that used thermal protection systems (effectively, a heat-shield).

While most heat-shields were ceramic, there were some proposals, particularly those developed by McDonnell, which used metal set-ups such as this design.



Some of the designs seemed to be at least as effective as the ceramic design (though the ceramic concept wins points for simplicity), and appear to have been lighter: I'm curious if there's any declassified information on these, as well as anything that could be used to constitute a timeline of these developments by McDonnell, or other contractors.

 

[publiusr]

Just today at phys.org was a great article:

"Cooler faster better--crystal waves enable ultrafast heat transfer for cooler electronics."
(from the University of Virginia.)

The author seemed to think Aerospace applications could be had as well.

They claim to have found a way to move heat like a beam of light via hexagonal boron nitride and hyperbolic phonon-polaritons:

"We're seeing heat move in ways that weren't thought possible in solid materials."