ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico, Dec. 15 -- The U.S. Department of Energy Sandia National Laboratories issued the following news release: * * * It is rocket science: New heat shields, faster * ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. From the tragedy of the space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003 to the now-routine return of commercial spacecraft, heat shields formally called thermal protection systems are critical for protecting vehicles from the intense heat and friction of atmospheric reentry or traveling at many times  more