SpaceX Job Solicitation for (presumably BFR) Thermal Protection Engineer

[Ronsmytheiii]

Edit: should have skipped LinkedIn and Just used their career page!

Responsibilities

    Develop materials necessary to make thermal protection systems reusable for thousands of low earth orbit reentry flights on future SpaceX vehicles.
    Develop robust and affordable manufacturing processes for reusable thermal protection materials scalable to SpaceX’s thermal protection systems usage needs.

http://www.spacex.com/careers/position/213755

THOUSANDS?!? wow, when I think about it that makes sense but the most a single vehicle has reentered is 39 (OV-103)

[AncientU]

Avoiding the minimalist pitfall, anyway... 

[Ronsmytheiii]

So looking further, seems they are focusing in on heritage ceramic TPS (ie Shuttle tiles) and processes:

Deep understanding of ceramic insulation and heritage ceramic thermal protection materials and systems.
Deep understanding of manufacturing ceramic thermal protection systems and the opportunities to reduce cost and complexity.

[guckyfan]

This makes sense in the context of terrestrial PtP. One more factoid pointing to SpaceX taking this seriously. To get anywhere near commercial flight cost they need thousands of flights of the vehicle with very limited refurbishment.