Development Status and Trends of Thermal Protection Systems for Solar Probes

As solar exploration missions extend toward regions closer to the Sun and more extreme environments, the Thermal Protection System (TPS) is a critical technology attracting significant attention. This study systematically reviews the thermal environmental characteristics and corresponding TPS application requirements for three types of missions: Earth-Sun L1 point observation, solar polar orbit exploration, and solar close approach exploration. It conducts an in-depth analysis of the design philosophies, material selections, and technical approaches for the associated thermal protection systems. Research indicates that the future development trend for solar exploration TPS has moved beyond the simple improvement of a single material’s performance to a synergistic design that integrates structure and function. This includes: ①developing ultra-high-temperature-resistant, lightweight composite materials to build composite structures that offer both efficient thermal insulation and load-bearing capacity; ②advancing thermal optical coating technology to enhance multi-path thermal protection while ensuring the long-term stability of materials under extreme solar wind conditions, and ③promoting large-scale, integrated manufacturing processes to achieve high reliability and low cost. The key materials and optimization methods extracted from this study provide crucial theoretical support and technical reserves for China’s deep space exploration missions to cope with extreme thermal environments. Accelerating breakthroughs in related core technologies is of great strategic significance for enhancing the nation’s original innovation capacity in aerospace science and technology and implementing the deep space exploration strategy.