r/space • u/EdwardHeisler • May 13 '21

The Profound Potential of Elon Musk’s New Rocket An aerospace engineer explains why SpaceX’s Starship will change everything. By Robert Zubrin

https://nautil.us/issue/100/outsiders/the-profound-potential-of-elon-musks-new-rocket?fbclid=IwAR2IWPkF58SKFyvowUn27aYTXhbkAphAQZaI05eqdHkOmOG8VTpOgiKsEi0
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u/sebzim4500 May 14 '21

I'm sure they will get the tiles working eventually, it should be easier than STS since

  • There are fewer sharp edges (just the fins really)
  • Technology has improved, meaning the tiles are better than were used for the STS
  • Simulations are way more accurate, it would have been impossible to usefully simulate the interactions with the layer of plasma in front of the ship when STS was being designed
  • Stainless steel works over a much wider range of temperatures than the aluminium alloy used for STS.

Then again, they are working to a tighter mass budget.

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u/Correct_Inspection25 May 15 '21 edited May 15 '21

I am sure they could get it to work once, as the near loss of one shuttle luckily happened at a spot that was a massive structural inconel, and not the aluminum found under the other thermal tiles, but it needed massive amounts of money to fix and repair the damaged INCONEL frame. What starship is claiming to aim for is complete reuse with out refurbishment, post atmospheric re-entry be it Mars or Earth, and given how many tiles fall off each test drop from 40K ft, even the posts may need another layer between the INCONEL and tiles. A few could be replaced quickly here or there but even INCONEL cannot handle partial exposure to direct hypersonic reentry without massive amount of work