Complex sentence: They operate the same way ice cubes in a soda drink do: as the temperature rises from atmospheric friction converting spacecraft momentum into heat, the ablative material undergoes a phase change (vaporises from solid to gaseous).
Split into simpler sentences: They operate the same way ice cubes in a soda drink do. As the temperature rises from atmospheric friction converting spacecraft momentum into heat, the ablative material undergoes a phase change (vaporises from solid to gaseous).