heat shield

noun

: a barrier of ablative material to protect a space capsule from heat on its entry into an atmosphere

Examples of heat shield in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The pipe takes multiple bends before feeding into a handmade box muffler that doubles as a functional heat shield. — New Atlas, 2 Sep. 2026

Confidence in future Artemis missions The success of the Artemis II heat shield, which now appears to have been confirmed by an extensive data review, will give NASA confidence in the performance of its deep-space vehicle for future lunar missions. — Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 1 Sep. 2026

Getting an up-close look at Ship, the company said, would shed light on how its heat shield held up during the flight — key information that could advance the development of Starship, which is designed to be fully and rapidly reusable. — Mike Wall, Space.com, 27 Aug. 2026

Tracking Ship 40’s heat shield SpaceX has made a concerted effort to analyze Ship 40 through every phase of its journey. — Jackie Wattles, CNN Money, 3 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1962, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for heat shield

• afield
• airfield
• annealed
• appealed
• brownfield
• coalfield
• concealed
• congealed
• cornfield
• downfield
• goldfield
• hayfield

Kids Definition

heat shield

noun

: a barrier of insulation to protect a space capsule from heat on its return to earth