NASA engineers have refined the key thermal protection system of Orion – new exploration spacecraft designed to ferry astronauts to asteroid and Mars. NASA has developed a silver, metallic-based thermal control coating for its Orion spacecraft that will protect the vehicle from extreme heat both in orbit and during its fiery return to Earth. This new thermal protection system will enable the spacecraft to withstand more than 2200-degree of temperature.

The Orion spacecraft will carry people to Mars and security of astronauts is the most important task. NASA engineers have been continuously working to improve the heat shield of the spacecraft since 2014 i.e., when the vehicle travelled into space for the first time. The refined metallic-based coating will protect Orion from “the harshest set of conditions yet” and will ensure safety of astronauts during its next mission named Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1).

The spacecraft is set to go back to space for more than three weeks in 2018 and return back to Earth at a faster speed so that it get can tested through even hotter conditions. During the first time, it successfully completed a historic four-and-a-half-hour-long, double-orbit journey.

The main purpose of this new silver, metallic-based thermal control coating is to retain heat when Orion is heading to space and going through cold temperatures, and protect it from high temperatures when the spacecraft is exposed to the sun. “While the spacecraft encountered speeds of 30,000 feet per second during Exploration Flight Test-1 and temperatures of approximately 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, it will experience a faster return from lunar velocity of about 36,000 feet per second,” NASA said about Orion’s next flight.

NASA plans to put astronauts on board Orion in 2021 for deep space exploration, but the primary plan is to use Orion for getting humans to asteroids and Mars by the 2030s.