Spacex targets a flight orbital flight with a next -generation vehicle in 2026
“Metal tiles … didn’t work very well,” he said. They were very oxidized in the high oxygen environment. So, that beautiful orange color, kind -like [space] The color of the exterior of the shuttle tank may be created by these three small metal tiles above. “
Gersstanmaier has a talent to explain complex technical concepts in a digestible way. He began his career as an aerospace engineer who worked in NASA in 1977. He increased in NASA to be the head of all the human spatial programs, then joined Spacex in 2020.
Testing with metal tiles indicates how Spacex is developed. The company’s engineers move quickly to make changes and integrate new designs on each test flight. Metal thermal shield tiles are not a new technology. NASA tested them in the laboratories in the 1970s but never flown them.
“I think we learned a lot of things by going to fly and we still had enough protection under it that they didn’t cause any problems,” Gerstenmaier said. “In most tiles, there are relatively large gaps, and this is where we see that heat disappears and falls under it.”
Mastery of Shield Shield Starship is very important for the future of the program. The thermal shield should be durable for rapid use. Musk’s eyes use sea ships within 24 hours.
NASA’s reusable space shuttles used approximately 24,000 delicate ceramic tiles to protect them from the hottest temperature, but they were delicate and susceptible to damage and needed hand -made touches between missions. The Dragon Spacex Capsule has a reusable structure that subtracts the basement of heat, but the heat shield itself is used only once.
For Starship, Spacex needs the heat shield to face space flight rigors during the launch, severe heat cycles in space, burning heat and crushing the launch pad at the end of each mission. Musk The Refable Heat Shield has called the “biggest” engineering challenge for the Starship program.
Gerstenmaier continued to present a piece of white near the top of the Heat Starship shield. This was caused by the heat between the gaps in the tiles and the removal of the underlying material, a heat dam caused by the heat shield in the Spacex dragon spacecraft, he said. The technicians also deliberately removed some tiles near the Starship nose to test the vehicle’s response.
“This is essentially a white substance that is on the dragon and disappears, and when it turns off, it creates this white residual,” Gerstenmaier said. “So what shows us is that we actually fall into the area between the tiles, go under the tiles, and this erosion structure is underneath it. So we learned to seal the tiles.”
The main structure of the Starship is made of special alloy of stainless steel. Most of the other spacecraft designed for redesign, such as the space shuttle and the dragon, are made of aluminum. The higher melting point of this steel causes the Starship to be more than the shuttle damages.
