[NASA] NASA Heat Shield Tech Contributes to America’s Space Industry

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Varda Space Industries/William Godward

This Jan. 29, 2026, photo captures the streak the Varda Space Industries W-5 capsule made while returning to Earth. The capsule uses a

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. The material, known as C-PICA (Conformal Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator), provides a stronger, less expensive, and more efficient thermal protection coating to capsules, allowing them – and their valuable contents – to return to Earth safely.

Developed at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, C-PICA 

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 for heat shields, reflecting the decades of expertise that NASA brings to designing, developing, and testing innovative thermal protection materials. This flight test of Varda-produced C-PICA was supported by NASA’s 

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 program.

Image credit: Varda Space Industries/William Godward

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