{"id":22484,"date":"2021-09-28T22:55:55","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T14:55:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/starship-20-loses-thermal-protection-tiles-with-header-tank-vent\/"},"modified":"2021-09-28T22:55:55","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T14:55:55","slug":"starship-20-loses-thermal-protection-tiles-with-header-tank-vent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/starship-20-loses-thermal-protection-tiles-with-header-tank-vent\/","title":{"rendered":"Starship 20 loses thermal protection tiles with header tank vent"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Thermal Protection System on SpaceX\u2019s Starship has been the topic of much discussion. Ship 20 had its thermal protection installed, but the quality of those tiles has come into question. Now, with the vent of the Ship 20\u2019s header tank, many tiles on Ship 20 flew off and hit the ground.<\/p>\n

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Thermal protection tiles are key to a spacecraft surviving reentry. During reentry, a spacecraft will gain a massive amount of heat, converting the velocity of the vehicle to heat through friction with the air. There are a few ways to deal with that heat. An ablative heat shield will heat up and burn away, carrying away the energy. The problem with ablative heat shields is that they burn up, and need to be replaced \u2013 that doesn\u2019t work if you want to re-launch a spacecraft within an hour of landing, as SpaceX eventually does with Starship. In order to (eventually) allow quick reusability, Starship instead uses ceramic thermal protection tiles to insulate the spacecraft from the heat of reentry. The tiles, like those of the Space Shuttle, are extremely lightweight and fragile.<\/p>\n

Starship loses ceramic thermal protection tiles with vent<\/h2>\n

Tiles have cracked and fallen off before, but the thermal protection system tiles flew off of Starship far more violently today.<\/p>\n

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