Describing a spacecraft, capsule, or specific component built to withstand the extreme thermal and aerodynamic loads of atmospheric entry. Reentrant vehicles typically feature blunt-body aerodynamics and ablative or reusable thermal protection systems to shed heat.
Heard on the job
The upper stage is expendable, but the payload section is a fully reentrant lifting body.
Do not mix it up with
- Demisable: Reentrant hardware is designed to survive the atmosphere, whereas demisable hardware is engineered to burn up completely.