SCIFLI Starship Reentry Observation (SSRO-ACO)

Completed NASA Game Changing Development project led by Langley Research Center from 2021-01-01 to 2025-12-31 with Johnson Space Center and SpaceX support. The SCIFLI team used calibrated air-, sea-, and land-based imagery to observe Starship thermal-protection-system performance during hypersonic reentry over the Pacific and correlate imagery with onboard sensors. The resulting aerothermal data and validated engineering tools support reusable human-rated vehicle design, model validation, and lower-maintenance thermal-protection systems. MARS Scientific and OKSI were source-listed supporting partners but had no exact canonical company identities in bounded production checks, so they remain source-attributed without guessed IDs.