[Space, Spaceships] Armor needed for Aerobraking/Re-entry

[thrash]

Originally Posted by Humabout

What you reference in SMAD III in section 6.2.3 is perterbations due to atmospheric drag that cause orbital decay in satelites. Furthermore, it includes drag from extended solar arrays and does not even address aerobreaking.

Atmospheric drag == aerobraking. The figure was for a generic satellite, which may or may not include extended solar panels -- the main difference would be the wetted area and the resulting area-to-mass ratio.

Edit to add: You should look at the history of the Magellan spacecraft.