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

Once Orion blazes through Earth's atmosphere, a protective heat shield will be cast off to make way for parachutes to deploy and slow the vehicle down. —Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 3 Apr. 2026

There’s a known issue with a part of the Orion capsule’s heat shield, which is a part affixed to the spacecraft’s circular bottom that’s made of an ablative material — meaning it’s meant to char and erode as it’s exposed to heat. —Jackie Wattles, CNN Money, 3 Apr. 2026

Flying heat shield forward, the Orion will hit the top of the discernible atmosphere while moving at some 25,000 mph. —William Harwood, CBS News, 2 Apr. 2026

Both problems also thwarted Artemis I, whose capsule returned with excessive heat shield damage. —Marcia Dunn, Chicago Tribune, 2 Apr. 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