Building a viable spacecraft is no mean feat – and as we scramble to visit other parts of our solar system, and even, in the future, establish human colonies out there – one of the biggest obstacles is ensuring that the spacecraft is safe.

After all, human lives are precious – not to mention all the money that goes into developing the spacecraft, hence the move to recover as many parts as possible upon reentry.

Therein lies the problem. Sure, creating a spacecraft that can withstand blast off the travel out of Earth’s atmosphere, and lengthy durations in space is complex, but building something that will withstand re-entry? That’s another thing altogether.

How do we know if a spacecraft will survive re-entry? We test it. But how do we test it without actually putting it through the re-entry process? Thanks to researchers and engineers at CU Boulder, we may finally have a viable and effective method.

The problem upon re-entry, as explained in a CU Boulder statement, is the incredible hypersonic speed and resulting force – as well as the super-high temperatures – that a spacecraft is subjected to as it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere.

If not built properly, the spacecraft will be torn apart. And nowhere is that more deeply known than at CU Boulder, who lost alumnus Kalpna Chawla to a re-entry disaster back in 2003.

As such, CU Boulder’s Hisham Ali vowed to work to ensure that humans travelling into space would be safe upon re-entry, as explained in the statement:

“One of the most critical and dangerous phases of any space mission is when spacecraft reenter Earth’s atmosphere,” he said. “If we’re taking more humans to orbit through space tourism, we need to do that safely and effectively, and that’s a challenging problem.”

All this has led to the development of a new testing facility in which materials can be tested in conditions that mirror those faced by anything entering our planet’s atmosphere. And they’re doing it through the use of very fast, very hot plasma.

At hundreds of thousands of miles per hour, and over 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the test facility that opened on the CU Boulder campus in late 2025. Within the test tunnel, plasma roars to life; argon gas, magnets, and radio waves replicate the speeds and electrical currents that further complicate re-entry.

Then, objects, materials, technology – anything that needs testing – can be lowered into the tunnel, with visuals and data clearly showing how they are affected by the conditions of re-entry.

And incredibly, just as Earth air can be injected as a final component to replicate entry to Earth’s atmosphere, the scientists’ knowledge of Martian air (and that of other planets) means that those can be replicated too.

And it’s all helping toward a safer future for our space-farers.

Thought that was fascinating? Here’s another story you might like: Why You’ll Never See A Great White Shark In An Aquarium