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Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID)

NASA’s LOFTID is demonstrating a cross-cutting aeroshell — a type of heat shield — for atmospheric re-entry.

Active Mission

For destinations with an atmosphere, one of the challenges NASA faces is how to deliver heavy payloads (experiments, equipment, and people) because current rigid aeroshells are constrained by a rocket’s shroud size. One answer is an inflatable aeroshell that can be deployed to a scale much larger than the shroud. This technology enables a variety of proposed NASA missions to destinations such as Mars, Venus, Titan as well as return to Earth.

Mission Type

Technology Demonstration

Partner

United Launch Alliance

Launch

Nov. 10, 2022

Landing

Nov. 10, 2022

LOFTID News

The Heat is On! NASA’s “Flawless” Heat Shield Demo Passes the Test

5 min read

A little more than a year ago, a NASA flight test article came screaming back from space at more than…

Article

NASA Partners with American Companies on Key Moon, Exploration Tech

5 min read

NASA has selected 11 U.S. companies to develop technologies that could support long-term exploration on the Moon and in space…

News Release

LOFTID Inflatable Heat Shield Test A Success, Early Results Show

2 min read

NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, or LOFTID, launched on Nov. 10, 2022, to demonstrate inflatable heat…

Article

NASA to Share First Results of Inflatable Heat Shield Technology Test

2 min read

NASA will host a media briefing on Thursday, Nov. 17, at 2 p.m. EST to share early results from the…

Article

NASA, ULA Successfully Launch Weather Satellite, Re-entry Tech Demo

4 min read

NASA successfully launched the third in a series of polar-orbiting weather satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)…

News Release

NASA Armstrong Temperature-Measuring Technology to Fly with LOFTID

4 min read

Technology developed at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, will fly on the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of…

Article

LOFTID Fact Sheet

The LOFTID demonstration is poised to revolutionize the way NASA and industry deliver payloads to planetary destinations with atmospheres.

The Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID), dedicated to the memory of Bernard Kutter, program manager, is a partnership between NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and United Launch Alliance (ULA) to demonstrate an inflatable aerodynamic decelerator, or aeroshell, technology that could one day help land humans on Mars.

Read the Fact Sheet
LOFTID

Contact

To learn more, please reach out to Jimi Russell at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C. at (216) 704-2412 or via email.

Email Jimi Russell about Contact
A teams works on NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID), dedicated to the memory of Bernard Kutter which will launch as a secondary payload aboard the Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) mission.