TenCate Advanced Composites North America, a leading global composite materials company for space and aerospace applications, has developed and provided heat resistant composites for the heat shield and backshell structure of the Lockheed Martin Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle, successfully launched this week. The suite of advanced materials of TenCate in this space capsule replaces the traditional titanium solution for re-entry and splashdown requirements, while saving weight and cost. The composite heat shield design allows very large composite structures to be fabricated out of autoclave.