The need to reduce reentry vehicle (RV) weight has become a critical issue for advanced systems. Imposed requirements have been increased to the point where the RV designer must look to the benefits afforded by high strength-to-weight materials such as graphite epoxy. The phase I program showed that utilization of these composite materials in regions of the rv where physical impact of vaporized material from internal components was permitted is feasible. Phase ii expands upon the results derived in phase I and, in addition, addresses the remaining structural issues, i.e., aeroshell/component structural at tsr response, necessary to formalize the methodology required to incorporate advanced composite materials as RV investigations to formulate the methodology. Experimentation is directed toward acquiring both material shock performance data and data specificially related to the loading phenomenon.
