Uses in fiction Star Trek Īblative hull armor appears frequently in the Star Trek universe. Īblative armor is distinct from the concept of reactive armor which is actually in common use in modern armored vehicles. In recent years, the concept has had widespread usage in robot combat as a method of reducing impact energy transfer to vital components. The idea is also commonly encountered in science fiction. A large amount of developmental usage was on the early 1960s rocket powered X-15 manned aircraft traveling at hypersonic speeds in excess of Mach 6.5 (roughly 5,000 mph).
In contemporary spacecraft, ablative plating is most frequently seen as an ablative heat shield for a vehicle that must enter atmosphere from orbit, such as on nuclear warheads, or space vehicles like the Mars Pathfinder probe. ( December 2010) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Īblative armor is armor which prevents damage through the process of ablation, the removal of material from the surface of an object by vaporization, chipping, or other erosive processes. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. This article possibly contains original research.
