heat shield

American  

noun

Aerospace.

1. a coating or structure that surrounds part of the nose cone or other vulnerable surfaces of a spacecraft and, by heat absorption or ablation, protects them from excessive heating during reentry.

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heat shield British  

noun

1. a coating or barrier for shielding from excessive heat, such as that experienced by a spacecraft on re-entry into the earth's atmosphere

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heat shield Scientific  

1. A barrier that prevents a substance from absorbing heat energy from an outside source by absorbing and dissipating, or simply reflecting, that heat. Heat shields are commonly used to protect parts of a device from heat generated by its energy source, as in isolating the cabin of a car from its motor. Many spacecraft dissipate heat generated by friction with the atmosphere upon reentry using heat shields that melt and vaporize, dissipating the energy back into the atmosphere.

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Etymology

Origin of heat shield

First recorded in 1955–60

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

heat shield

Streaks cover its heat shield, an indicator of the heat and forces that ripped across it as the vehicle powered back to Earth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

It is expected to provide valuable information to the company’s engineers, giving them a chance to review in detail how its heat shield performed during re-entry from space.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

It will also test upgrades to Starship's heat shield.

From Barron's ● Jul. 16, 2026

During its suborbital cruise phase, Starship successfully released its payload of 20 mock Starlink satellites, along with two satellites that scanned its heat shield and sent data back to the ground during the its descent.

From BBC ● May 23, 2026

We were pointed backward with our heat shield forward.

From "Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story" by Michael Collins

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