The Reentry Systems Application Program (RSAP),
Abstract
In this age of reductions in strategic nuclear forces and decreasing defense budgets, economics has forced the refurbishing of currently deployed systems and the extension of their operational life expectancies, rather than the building of new systems. The issue of greatly extending the useful age of components and material systems beyond their design lives, from approximately 20 years to as much as 60 years, is a problem that the reentry system industrial base has not faced in the past. Congress has funded the Reentry Systems Application Program (RSAP) with the objectives of providing the technology to maintain the currently deployed reentry systems beyond their original design lives. Topics covered in this paper include: a brief history of the genesis of the program, an overview of the objective and approach to conducting the program, a discussion of a recently conducted reentry industrial base survey, and the results of a ground test program evaluating potential replacement candidate heatshield materials. The reentry system industrial base is found to be undergoing significant erosion. The reentry system heatshield is identified as a component which the industrial base no longer supports and which has the potential for age-related performance degradation. Arc heater tests and high temperature thermomechanical properties characterization experiments show the potential for the development of a replacement heatshield material.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA318763
Entities
People
- Alfred M. Morrison
- John S. Vamos
Organizations
- Naval Surface Warfare Center