SN11 has 360 tiles on the body, unsure if any on the flaps. SN10 had 246. Interesting to watch it grow over time.
Quote from: IanThePineapple on 03/08/2021 03:36 pmSN11 has 360 tiles on the body, unsure if any on the flaps. SN10 had 246. Interesting to watch it grow over time.I'm confused - what advantage would there be in having the greater number of tiles?
Quote from: steveleach on 03/08/2021 03:40 pmQuote from: IanThePineapple on 03/08/2021 03:36 pmSN11 has 360 tiles on the body, unsure if any on the flaps. SN10 had 246. Interesting to watch it grow over time.I'm confused - what advantage would there be in having the greater number of tiles?I think they mean more coverage of the prototypes, not a greater number of tiles for a full heatshield.
Quote from: zeekakboos on 03/08/2021 03:44 pmQuote from: steveleach on 03/08/2021 03:40 pmQuote from: IanThePineapple on 03/08/2021 03:36 pmSN11 has 360 tiles on the body, unsure if any on the flaps. SN10 had 246. Interesting to watch it grow over time.I'm confused - what advantage would there be in having the greater number of tiles?I think they mean more coverage of the prototypes, not a greater number of tiles for a full heatshield.Yes, that's what I assumed they meant.But why have more tiles on the prototypes? What does the larger patch tell you that the smaller one doesn't?
Quote from: steveleach on 03/08/2021 03:50 pmQuote from: zeekakboos on 03/08/2021 03:44 pmQuote from: steveleach on 03/08/2021 03:40 pmQuote from: IanThePineapple on 03/08/2021 03:36 pmSN11 has 360 tiles on the body, unsure if any on the flaps. SN10 had 246. Interesting to watch it grow over time.I'm confused - what advantage would there be in having the greater number of tiles?I think they mean more coverage of the prototypes, not a greater number of tiles for a full heatshield.Yes, that's what I assumed they meant.But why have more tiles on the prototypes? What does the larger patch tell you that the smaller one doesn't?You get more practice installing them and better statistics on the installation processes and mechanical/thermal performance.
Quote from: eriblo on 03/08/2021 03:57 pmQuote from: steveleach on 03/08/2021 03:50 pmQuote from: zeekakboos on 03/08/2021 03:44 pmQuote from: steveleach on 03/08/2021 03:40 pmQuote from: IanThePineapple on 03/08/2021 03:36 pmSN11 has 360 tiles on the body, unsure if any on the flaps. SN10 had 246. Interesting to watch it grow over time.I'm confused - what advantage would there be in having the greater number of tiles?I think they mean more coverage of the prototypes, not a greater number of tiles for a full heatshield.Yes, that's what I assumed they meant.But why have more tiles on the prototypes? What does the larger patch tell you that the smaller one doesn't?You get more practice installing them and better statistics on the installation processes and mechanical/thermal performance.And maybe as prototypes are built and SX sees the likelihood of each crashing shrink they're willing to install more tiles.
Quote from: zeekakboos on 03/08/2021 04:01 pmQuote from: eriblo on 03/08/2021 03:57 pmQuote from: steveleach on 03/08/2021 03:50 pmQuote from: zeekakboos on 03/08/2021 03:44 pmQuote from: steveleach on 03/08/2021 03:40 pmQuote from: IanThePineapple on 03/08/2021 03:36 pmSN11 has 360 tiles on the body, unsure if any on the flaps. SN10 had 246. Interesting to watch it grow over time.I'm confused - what advantage would there be in having the greater number of tiles?I think they mean more coverage of the prototypes, not a greater number of tiles for a full heatshield.Yes, that's what I assumed they meant.But why have more tiles on the prototypes? What does the larger patch tell you that the smaller one doesn't?You get more practice installing them and better statistics on the installation processes and mechanical/thermal performance.And maybe as prototypes are built and SX sees the likelihood of each crashing shrink they're willing to install more tiles.But if the justification is practice and data gathering, why not just put on the full set?
Quote from: steveleach on 03/08/2021 04:35 pmQuote from: zeekakboos on 03/08/2021 04:01 pmQuote from: eriblo on 03/08/2021 03:57 pmQuote from: steveleach on 03/08/2021 03:50 pmYes, that's what I assumed they meant.But why have more tiles on the prototypes? What does the larger patch tell you that the smaller one doesn't?You get more practice installing them and better statistics on the installation processes and mechanical/thermal performance.And maybe as prototypes are built and SX sees the likelihood of each crashing shrink they're willing to install more tiles.But if the justification is practice and data gathering, why not just put on the full set?Cost? and of course they don't really need the full heatshield for actually protecting the vehicle until probably >SN15 so might as well work your way up
Quote from: zeekakboos on 03/08/2021 04:01 pmQuote from: eriblo on 03/08/2021 03:57 pmQuote from: steveleach on 03/08/2021 03:50 pmYes, that's what I assumed they meant.But why have more tiles on the prototypes? What does the larger patch tell you that the smaller one doesn't?You get more practice installing them and better statistics on the installation processes and mechanical/thermal performance.And maybe as prototypes are built and SX sees the likelihood of each crashing shrink they're willing to install more tiles.But if the justification is practice and data gathering, why not just put on the full set?
Quote from: eriblo on 03/08/2021 03:57 pmQuote from: steveleach on 03/08/2021 03:50 pmYes, that's what I assumed they meant.But why have more tiles on the prototypes? What does the larger patch tell you that the smaller one doesn't?You get more practice installing them and better statistics on the installation processes and mechanical/thermal performance.And maybe as prototypes are built and SX sees the likelihood of each crashing shrink they're willing to install more tiles.
Quote from: steveleach on 03/08/2021 03:50 pmYes, that's what I assumed they meant.But why have more tiles on the prototypes? What does the larger patch tell you that the smaller one doesn't?You get more practice installing them and better statistics on the installation processes and mechanical/thermal performance.
Yes, that's what I assumed they meant.But why have more tiles on the prototypes? What does the larger patch tell you that the smaller one doesn't?
I have also been wondering if they will get better or worse landing profiles with more of the heat shield installed as, the additional mass of the heatshield moves the center of mass of Starship ( in the X-Y plane ) away from the geometric centerline of the vehicle. I had a hard time finding reliable guestimates of the heatshield mass, but a 15t heatshield would make a 662kN*m moment arm. If the landing is to be on two engines, it seems like you want to prioritize moving the CoM towards the thrust vector of the primary landing engines. That would minimize the off axis gimbal angle needed for the asymetric CoM. Would it even be possible to move the centroid three center raptors slightly towards the asymetic CG to have better control in nominal & off nominal landings?
I'm trying to figure out if anyone has a theory on why SN11 has more than SN10. I'll throw in a theory of my own, just to move the discussion on: they have a fixed "budget" for tiles on each prototype, and they are getting better at installing them so the same budget lets them install more tiles.
Quote from: steveleach on 03/08/2021 04:55 pmI'm trying to figure out if anyone has a theory on why SN11 has more than SN10. I'll throw in a theory of my own, just to move the discussion on: they have a fixed "budget" for tiles on each prototype, and they are getting better at installing them so the same budget lets them install more tiles.They might still be trying out slightly different tile manufacturing / ramping up manufacturing. Wasn't there something about that in a job ad?Didn't SN10 also have a significant area of unused attachment studs? They might not have had enough tiles to populate it. Or it was just the stud robot going nuts.
I'm not at all sure either why the amount of heat shield would increase but not so quickly.
Why do they use half-tiles on the top and bottom, but not the left and right?
Quote from: steveleach on 03/08/2021 09:33 pmWhy do they use half-tiles on the top and bottom, but not the left and right?They will have to use half tiles at the bottom at least, but need not used half tiles at the sides (although they might)