Ablative armor Ablative armor is armor which prevents damage through the process of ablation . In contemporary spacecraft , ablative plating is most frequently seen as an ablative heat shield for a vehicle that must enter atmosphere from orbit , such as on nuclear warheads , or space vehicles like the Mars Pathfinder probe . The idea is also commonly encountered in science fiction . Ablative armor is distinct from the concept of reactive armor which is actually in common use in modern armored vehicles . Space colonies and ships of the future will almost certainly require a type of ablative armor to withstand space radiation and heat . When traveling at higher speeds the momentum of the particles the ships will encounter will be large , and require more protection . Uses in fiction . Star Trek . Ablative armor frequently appears in the " Star Trek " universe . It was introduced in the Star Trek world in the year 2371 . The USS " Defiant " was equipped with ablative armor in " " . The " " explains that it works in two stages : when the shields are hit by an energy or particle weapon , phaser or thermal energy from the ship is dissipated across the hull . This creates a boil - off rate that carries away most of the incoming beam ' s energy . Most of the time the boil - off creates a particle cloud that is dense enough to disperse the incoming beam . The " USS Prometheus " from was also equipped with ablative hull armor . Ablative armor is used in the series finale episode of " " in which a future Admiral Janeway travels back in time and brings ablative armor along with a new armament of " transphasic " torpedoes to help " Voyager " bypass the Borg threat and allow the crew to get home sooner than her past self Captain Janeway did . The mass of the ablative armor plays a large role in how much damage it is able to absorb . Even a 10 % difference in mass can mean 100 % difference in the amount of damage it is able to absorb . Regenerative ablative armor is a similar type of armor that adds power to the armor to be able to withstand more hits , it is similar to shields in the fact that it can be recharged . Iron Man . In the comic book series " Iron Man " , one of the title characters ' specialized outfits possesses regenerating ablative armor " for use in impact - rich environments " ( Vol . 3 , # 71 ) . It also is used by War Machine . DarkSpace . In the online game " DarkSpace " , ablative armor is utilized to counter projectile - based damage while making the ship more vulnerable to lasers and energy - based weapons . Mobile Suit Gundam . In the Universal Century time line of the " Gundam " series , ablative coatings are used to minimize the effect of beam weapons , called beam resistive coating and a later improved version , Anti - beam coating . Gundam SEED . In the Cosmic Era time line , the ablative armor concept is applied in similar capacity to the anti - beam coating and laminated armor technologies utilised by mobile suits as a form of protection against beam and laser weaponry . Selected spacecraft are also able to deploy ablative gel for high - velocity atmospheric reentries . Gundam 00 . In the Anno Domini time line , the Earth ' s three space elevators are covered by ablative armor plates to protect their structures from damage . When one of the elevators is partially destroyed , purging these plates require the technical crew to jettison the counterweight at the orbital end in order to avoid the now - unbalanced elevator ' s complete collapse . EVE Online . In the online game " EVE - Online " , ablative armor plating is utilized as a secondary defensive layer that protects the relatively fragile internal systems . Depending on the ship ' s loadout configuration , a ship can continuously repair incoming damage on the armor , fit additional armor plates to sustain large amounts of damage in the short term , or remotely repair friendly ships ' armor using specialized modules . The rate at which the armor gets depleted depends on the types of damage incurred to the armor and the armor ' s resistance value against each particular type of damage . Armor plating is usually considered strong against electromagnetic ( EM ) and thermal damage , and weak against kinetic energy penetrator s and bombardment of subatomic particles ( explosive ) , although a few exceptions exist . Mass Effect . In the console and PC game Mass Effect there are several variants of armor for all species referred to as ablative . Warhammer 40000 . In the tabletop RPG Inquisitor , ablative armour may be layered on top of other armour . If the ablative armour is struck , it is destroyed ( after the damage caused by the attack is reduced accordingly ) . Ablative armour may have additional properties such as added resistance to heat - or laser - based weaponry ; if special ablative armour is destroyed , it loses those additional properties . Unlike other types of armour in - game , ablative armour is quite cheap to purchase ( since it is so easily destroyed ) .