Two Heat Shields On SpaceX's Starship?

I explain why SpaceX is upgrading Starship 30 to have two heat shields on top of each other!

#SpaceX #starship #elonmusk #starbase

Editing: John Young, Alex Potvin, Stefanie Schlang
Photography: John Cargile, John Winkopp & Stefanie Schlang
3D Animation: Voop3D
Script & Research: Nathan, Soren, Oskar Wrobel, Felix Schlang
LIVE Production: Astro Roadie, Jonahan Heuer
Host: Felix Schlang
Production: Stefanie & Felix Schlang
Graphics & Media Processing: Jonathan Heuer, Felix Schlang

Credit:

⭐SpaceX
⭐NASA
⭐VirtualSpace_3D on X: @Lolomatico3d
⭐The Ring Watchers on X: @RingWatchers
📄Links for this Episode:

[bluecreeper]

Elon said they are putting on new tiles that are about 2x as strong over the ablative tiles, I dont think they are outting on the old tiles.

[richardmoye]

I wonder what the mass penalty is for the added heat shield

[jamskinner]

Will also make testing easier. If some tiles fail the ship can still land and be inspected. And no faa problems.

[DiggerD-wr]

According to Elon they ate not putting the old tiles back but newer thinner and better tiles.

[matthewakian]

I always thought the longest part of the whole Starship Super-Heavy development would be the reentry. They are doing a lot better than anyone thought in that regard.

[woodrowwaters]

Sounds like they're trying to avoid Columbia's fate.

[Drillbox_]

People who dont know about oblation its the method of protecting a vehicle on re-entry to earth. It basically means that the outer layer is subjected to so much heat it charrs and forms and the charr works as insulation. Its greatly effective and cheap for single use, but the charred layer is very loose and u can literally remove it with ur hand, thus isnt re usable...


I hope this helps.

[JeannineDC]

That makes perfect sense thanks Felix❤

[Trevor]

Ablative heat shielding will almost always be a more weight-efficient option, because instead of having to dissipate heat almost as fast as it's being added (often when it's being added at an incredible rate), they absorb the heat and then erode away, taking that energy with them.

They're probably using ablative heat shields as the redundancy for the same reason your spare tire isn't as durable as the normal ones: you just need something to get you home, it doesn't have to last forever as long as it lasts long enough for your vehicle to limp into the repair shop.

[kgw]

That umbrella has more tech than my car😂

[adamdiebold]

If the ship has no real cargo, then the engineers have lots of weight to experiment with. Why not try double heat shield if you can do it within the weight budget.

[Ollisaa]

oh redundancy! if the first layer gets damaged, it does not wreck the whole vessel as there are a second "backup" layer! that is clever!

[o.command]

Basically a just in case it hits the fan moment

[senioravocado]

A back up is something the shuttle did not have, so while we still don't have the active hear shields, this would suffice, hell it'll be better than the shuttle

[joblo]

how much payload will the extra layer of tiles cost?

[mk-daysai]

You can never be too careful. its good they do the two step things with one of the most important components of the space craft.

[MDSBock]

It's called TESTING n DEVELOPMENT, you Rock-it, Felix.

[hammer]

Any failure in the heat shield would likely mean catastrophic rapid disassembly as they would say. Making the heat shield work is paramount

[Mannicx]

Couple of observations,
1- the surface of ablative tiles is designed to erode, not the best surface to glue another tile on top.
2- ablative tiles are high maintenance as the loss of material make them not reusable as heat capacity is lost per trip
3- depending on how many “hard” tiles fall off will create more work and time to bring back to service however not much data on gluing new tiles to charred ablated tiles
4- non uniform adhesive application issues create higher pressure points that potentially crack the substrate tile
5- double layer tile shotgun design approach account for a loss of 15 ton payload capacity
IFT is getting closer

[gecgoodpasi]

Feels like a smart way of prototyping u well see on the wear of the abrasive tiles which areas need extra protection while also ensuring the rocket makes it thru the full test without critical failure