MEESST addresses critical challenges in spacecraft safety and sustainability during high-speed atmospheric (re-)entry, including extreme heat fluxes and communication blackouts. Traditional Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) are costly, reduce payload capacity and lack active solutions for communication issues, creating operational risks. As humanity advances toward interplanetary exploration, reusable and efficient solutions are crucial.
MEESST employs Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), modifying entry plasmas using EM fields to reduce heat flux and blackouts. Its centerpiece is a crycooled High-Temperature Superconductor (HTS) magnet prototype, a pioneering step toward reusable, cost-effective re-entry technologies. The key objectives include: extend and validate numerical models to predict and mitigate heat flux and blackout for air/CO2 plasmas under relevant re-entry conditions; design/deploy a cryocooled HTS magnet optimized for entry environments, forming the core of the MHD shielding system; heat flux and blackout measurements including MHD effects; cross-validate and integrate experimental findings with numerical models to ensure reliable predictions and applicability of MHD technologies; deliver a scalable MHD shielding prototype, paving the way for future commercialization.
Beyond re-entry applications, MEESST accelerates HTS technology adoption in space and related industries, enhancing Europe’s strategic autonomy. These advancements support reusable spacecraft systems for exploration, defense, and commercial markets. MEESST drives HTS commercialization, critical for emerging applications such as fusion energy, which require advanced HTS for economic viability. MEESST fosters economies of scale and cost reductions, expanding HTS readiness for extreme environments, advancing magnetic shielding technologies and introducing viable solutions to mitigate entry heating and blackouts. MEESST’s achievements, including the open source COMET and BORAT codes, and a first working prototype of a HTS probe, represent key milestones. These innovations promise applications beyond space, e.g. radar imaging, GPS navigation, MHD propulsion, and cosmic radiation protection. By integrating HTS technologies, MEESST could reduce heat flux by 40–80%, decreasing reliance on traditional TPS, cutting costs, and accelerating spacecraft design. This may increase mission frequency, enable earlier Mars missions, and transform space exploration. MEESST’s advancements lower mission costs and improve access to space for commercial/scientific purposes, driving economic growth in the EU and globally. Enabling manned Mars missions could address overpopulation and sustainability by opening new frontiers for human exploration/colonization. By establishing EU as a leader in re-entry and magnetic shielding technologies, MEESST enhances global competitiveness, supporting safer, cost-effective space missions, interplanetary exploration, clean energy, mobility, and climate monitoring. MEESST drives transformative change for science, industry, and society, fostering a robust ecosystem for future space endeavors.
