Aeroshell

An aeroshell is a rigid heat-shielded shell that helps decelerate and protects a spacecraft vehicle from pressure, heat, and possible debris created by drag during atmospheric entry. Its main components consist of a heat shield and a back shell. The heat shield absorbs heat caused by air compression in front of the spacecraft during its atmospheric entry. The back shell carries the load being delivered, along with important components such as a parachute, rocket engines, and monitoring electronics like an inertial measurement unit that monitors the orientation of the shell during parachute-slowed descent. Its purpose is used during the EDL, or Entry, Descent, and Landing, process of a spacecraft's mission. First, the aeroshell decelerates the spacecraft as it penetrates the planet's atmosphere. The heat shield absorbs the resulting friction. During descent, the parachute is deployed and the heat shield is detached.