The European Space Agency (ESA) organizes at regular intervals of about three to four years international workshops on Thermal Protection Systems and Hot Structures for space vehicles. These meetings provide opportunities for members from the international space community to meet and exchange information on recent advances and future activities in the field. The workshops provide a technical and social forum to engineers and scientists from European and international space agencies, industries, research centres and universities and aim to stimulate discussions on critical topics in space technology.

The '6th European Workshop on Thermal Protection Systems and Hot Structures' is planned to be hold from March 31st to April 3rd 2009 at the University in Stuttgart, Germany. The workshop is mainly concerned with the problems of analysis, design, fabrication, testing and operational use of Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) and Hot Structures. A particular focus of the workshop will be on the recent advancements achieved within ESA’s on-going Future Launcher Preparatory Program – FLPP. Further, following the example of the previous workshop and in view of the increasing interest in planetary exploration missions, specific sessions will be foreseen dedicated to advancements in the fields of ablative materials and systems, including material development and manufacturing, testing and mathematical modelling.