Heat tiles...

[l3p3r]

I was under the impression the interface was a very gradual thing... surely the atmosphere would initially be very very thin and as the spacecraft descended it could retract the parachute in proportion to maintain a relatively constant drag force until a certain point where it could discard the chute entirely and continue braking using body form drag.<br /><br />The intention being that more of the required deceleration could be achieved where the atmosphere is very thin, and thus reduce the net heating of the shuttle itself. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>