Images: NASA feels the heat at research facility

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  • The Interaction Heating Facility arc jet heater core

    The Interaction Heating Facility arc jet heater core

    The Interaction Heating Facility (IHF) arc jet heater core at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., is the largest of its kind in the United States and one of the principal research areas where materials for space exploration are tested. The arc jets are basically room-size blowtorches used to blast materials for re-entry shields with intense heat, and as such, they get so hot they have to be cooled with thousands of water lines.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Heat shield materials get hit by the heat

    Heat shield materials get hit by the heat

    Heat shield materials are the size of hockey pucks when tested in the arc jet and submitted to temperatures two or three times that of the sun.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Material meets 1,000 watts/cm(2) of energy

    Material meets 1,000 watts/cm(2) of energy

    The material pictured here inside the arc jet is being subjected to energy of 1,000 watts per square centimeter.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Inside the arc jet facility

    Inside the arc jet facility

    Inside the arc jet facility.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • NASA researchers Frank Hui and Ernest Fretter

    NASA researchers Frank Hui and Ernest Fretter

    Frank Hui, pictured left, an aerospace test engineer, and Ernest Fretter, who oversees the arc jet facility at NASA Ames, where scientists are testing materials that will eventually insulate spacecraft traveling to the moon.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Temperature gauges inside the arc jet facility

    Temperature gauges inside the arc jet facility

    Temperature gauges inside the arc jet facility allow scientists to simulate conditions and temperatures that a spacecraft would encounter on re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Instruments measure temperature of heat-shield materials

    Instruments measure temperature of heat-shield materials

    Outside the arc jet facility, instruments measure the surface temperature of the heat shield materials to see how they react to extreme temperatures.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

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Interaction Heating Facility arc jet heater core is one of the principal research areas where materials for space exploration are tested.

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The Interaction Heating Facility arc jet heater core

The Interaction Heating Facility (IHF) arc jet heater core at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., is the largest of its kind in the United States and one of the principal research areas where materials for space exploration are tested. The arc jets are basically room-size blowtorches used to blast materials for re-entry shields with intense heat, and as such, they get so hot they have to be cooled with thousands of water lines.

Caption by: Bill Detwiler

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