Starship heat shield

[eriblo]

From a Starship program perspective they probably want as much data as possible as early as possible and have a pipeline of ships such that they don't have to bet on reusing prototypes. Remember that a flawless flight means you did not learn lessons you could have.

On the other hand going for the best possible performance can certainly help with approvals and HLS pressure. But I would not be surprised if heat shield experiments continued for the foreseeable future. Even the Space Shuttle did that on operational flights.

[catdlr]

I'm only posting this so we can see how the tiles, the backing, and the tile filler are applied. I'm not endorseing Mr Beast.

Gene (SpaceBasedFox)
@SpaceBasedFox
New MrBeast video not only has a Starbase tour, but they let him install a heatsheild tile onto a flap

https://twitter.com/SpaceBasedFox/status/2015132855958192572

[Twark_Main]

I'm only posting this so we can see how the tiles, the backing, and the tile filler are applied. I'm not endorseing Mr Beast.

Gene (SpaceBasedFox)
@SpaceBasedFox
New MrBeast video not only has a Starbase tour, but they let him install a heatsheild tile onto a flap

https://x.com/SpaceBasedFox/status/2015132855958192572

I note they didn't let him trim the crunch wrap, but that part of the negotiations (if any) was edited out of the final cut.   

It'll be interesting to see if the signed tile is actually present in the final heat shield, or whether they just unconditionally removed it after the shoot was complete. Somehow I think they'll at least X-ray that one extra hard...   

[Oersted]

The tiles are made for easy installation, they just click in. It looks like Mr. Beast did it just fine.

[InterestedEngineer]

The tiles are made for easy installation, they just click in. It looks like Mr. Beast did it just fine.

If it wasn't easy, the heat shield would be full of defects.  It's nice to see good design for manufacturing.

Presumably the clipping of the insulation is a trivial action for shears of some kind

[catdlr]

Appears this morning that the Starlink flight out of VSFB has tiles mounted on the fairing; the fairing entry generates some heating and plasma flow.


https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/status/2015482193070469591

Spaceflight Now
@SpaceflightNow
Something unusual on the Starlink 17-20 mission payload fairing was visible in launch pad video prior to today's launch. The black hexagons look very much like Starship thermal protection tiles.

This video of the reentry of a fairing from a past flight.

[InterestedEngineer]

I don't remember this being commented on before, but would appear the rectangular tiles at section joints have been replaced with very small hex tiles, as seen in this update video and screenshot attached

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=60390.msg2753805#new

[crandles57]

https://www.facebook.com/SpaceXFP/posts/a-nice-shot-of-the-new-heat-tiles-on-ship33-starship-gazer-with-spacex-frontpage/614742734407120/

suggests it goes back to ship 33.

Various suggestions why but not sure we know for sure these are the reasons

e.g.
"Upgraded SpaceX Starship vehicles (starting around Ship 33) feature smaller, specialized hexagonal tiles in specific areas, such as where external stringers brace the walls. These tinier, lighter tiles are designed to improve durability, better accommodate structural flexing, and enhance the overall resilience of the thermal protection system (TPS) during reentry. "

[envy887]

https://www.facebook.com/SpaceXFP/posts/a-nice-shot-of-the-new-heat-tiles-on-ship33-starship-gazer-with-spacex-frontpage/614742734407120/

suggests it goes back to ship 33.

Various suggestions why but not sure we know for sure these are the reasons

e.g.
"Upgraded SpaceX Starship vehicles (starting around Ship 33) feature smaller, specialized hexagonal tiles in specific areas, such as where external stringers brace the walls. These tinier, lighter tiles are designed to improve durability, better accommodate structural flexing, and enhance the overall resilience of the thermal protection system (TPS) during reentry. "

S33 had straight lines at the bottom and top of the section of smaller tiles where they med up with the larger tiles. S39 has the small tiles interleaved into the large ones, with a double row of special large tiles at the interface allowing the small and large tiled sections to mesh seamlessly together. That eliminates the long straight lines, and the potential of plasma flow under the TPS. I think that's new.

[crandles57]

Ah ok right

>" the rectangular tiles at section joints"

Never were any retangular tiles?

Looks like larger hexagonal tiles had triangle cut off to make them irregular pentagons to create straight line while the small hexagons had some half tiles to meet up with that straight line (trapezoid shape).

[InterestedEngineer]

https://www.facebook.com/SpaceXFP/posts/a-nice-shot-of-the-new-heat-tiles-on-ship33-starship-gazer-with-spacex-frontpage/614742734407120/

suggests it goes back to ship 33.

Various suggestions why but not sure we know for sure these are the reasons

e.g.
"Upgraded SpaceX Starship vehicles (starting around Ship 33) feature smaller, specialized hexagonal tiles in specific areas, such as where external stringers brace the walls. These tinier, lighter tiles are designed to improve durability, better accommodate structural flexing, and enhance the overall resilience of the thermal protection system (TPS) during reentry. "

and no channels that extend more than the length of a tile.

[Twark_Main]

Do we expect that eventually the assembly precision gets good enough that they use regular tiles? Or is this actually the best permanent solution for some fundamental reason?

It's a classic tradeoff. Precision is expensive, and so is assembling lots of smaller tiles (otherwise they'd do that everywhere).

So is the general consensus that we're seeing the ideal compromise, or the interim solution?

[catdlr]

Appears this morning that the Starlink flight out of VSFB has tiles mounted on the fairing; the fairing entry generates some heating and plasma flow.


https://x.com/SpaceflightNow/status/2015482193070469591

Spaceflight Now
@SpaceflightNow
Something unusual on the Starlink 17-20 mission payload fairing was visible in launch pad video prior to today's launch. The black hexagons look very much like Starship thermal protection tiles.

In today's Starship Update. Ryan Caton discusses this with some additional images from Massey that might have led up to this test.