Local engineers research and improve space technology for NASA | News
Local engineers research and improve space technology for NASA | News
Publish Date: 2026-06-04 01:00:00
Source Domain: www.wpsdlocal6.com
University of Kentucky student studies heat shield application.
PADUCAH — All eyes were on the sky in April when the world anxiously waited for the Artemis II splashdown. Until the re-entry was finally confirmed to be a success, concerns about the capsule’s heat shield circulated — an issue during the previous Artemis I mission that Kentucky researchers helped NASA resolve.
Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Kentucky, Savio Poovathingal, explained Tuesday that both UK’s Lexington and Paducah campuses — alongside Murray State’s Paducah campus — worked to improve an unexpected problem with the Artemis I Orion capsule.
“We do a lot of work on heat shield modeling, testing flying space capsules and so on,” Poovathingal said. “We are pretty much in the heat shield research community. We’re leaders in that world.”
During the Artemis I test flight in 2022, significant pressure built up in the Orion heat shield and caused cracking, causing charred material to break off in several…
