Systems, apparatuses and methods may provide for a thermal protection apparatus comprising a substrate including surfaces defining one or more channels and an array of openings adjacent to the one or more channels and an outer layer coupled to the substrate. The outer layer may include a plurality of opaque elastic regions positioned adjacent to the array of openings. Additionally, a fluid may be positioned within the one or more channels. In one example, the plurality of opaque elastic regions are expandable to become protrusions including one or more of a rectangular shape, a donut shape or a dome shape.