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document updated 6 months ago, on Jul 20, 2024

the history of atmospheric entry

(side note: this is my comment that I left on Kat's page)

The first ICBMs, with ranges of 8,000 to 12,000 km (4,300 to 6,500 nmi), were only possible with the development of modern ablative heat shields and blunt-shaped vehicles.

In the United States, this technology was pioneered by H. Julian Allen and A. J. Eggers Jr. of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) at Ames Research Center.[5] In 1951, they made the counterintuitive discovery that a blunt shape (high drag) made the most effective heat shield.[6]

The flow of air over an object traveling through the air at hypersonic speeds is extraordinarily complex...