[Image above] Sylvia Johnson
Sylvia Johnson, branch chief for the Thermal Protection Materials and Systems Branch of the NASA Ames Research Center, discusses applications related to thermal protection systems that she and her team have been developing for NASA space vehicles. She describes the differences between reusable TPS used, for example, with the space shuttle, and ablating single-use ceramics that are designed to undergo specific chemical and physical changes as the vehicle reenters the Earth’s atmosphere. Another area Johnson discusses is ultrahigh temperature ceramics that are being used for the design of leading edges and nose tips for hypersonic vehicles. Johnson also shares some of her early work in her ceramic science career.
