Material Damage System and Method for Determining Same

Abstract

A system and method for determining a change in a thickness and temperature of a surface of a material are disclosed herein. The system and the method are usable in a thermal protection system of a space vehicle, such as an aeroshell of a space vehicle. The system and method may incorporate micro electric sensors arranged in a ladder network and capacitor strip sensors. Corrosion or ablation causes a change in an electrical property of the sensors. An amount of or rate of the corrosion or the ablation and a temperature of the material is determined based on the change of the electrical property of the sensors.