The Air Force Research Laboratory and Northrop Grumman have begun a four-year project to explore the use of new composites of thermal protection systems on reusable space vehicles, which could reduce the weight of spacecraft by 35 percent, program officials tell Inside the Air Force . The project -- known as Advanced Development of Integrated Warm Structures (ADIWS) -- will demonstrate the relative weight and performance benefits of using different types of thermal protection systems (TPS) and composite materials to...
