SpaceX's New Starship Heat Tiles to Beat Mars Reentry Shocked NASA...
SpaceX's New Starship Heat Tiles to Beat Mars Reentry Shocked NASA...
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SpaceX's New Starship Heat Tiles to Beat Mars Reentry Shocked NASA...
“The hardest which is the creating a fully reusable orbital heat shield which has never been done before.” (5:46).
This is exactly what SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has just admitted about the hardest part of building Starship.
Honestly, with the ultimate goal of sending humans to Mars, the old ceramic heat shield seems less feasible. That’s why SpaceX is developing a new solution that promises to address the tectonic plate shaking, as if a series of attached plates were constantly colliding and breaking apart.
So what is the solution?
How is it special?
And why is it considered Musk’s secret weapon in the journey to Mars?
Let’s find out on today's episode of Alpha Tech:
SpaceX's New Starship Heat Tiles to Beat Mars Reentry Shocked NASA...
Firstly, we must recognize that the ceramic heat shield system is quite effective after many improvements.
Apart from the problem of vibration during the flight of Starship, causing some shields to come off the hull, it almost kept the ship intact when landing. This was most evident in the flight with S30 and S31, which was a smooth and impressive landing. But Musk and SpaceX engineers discovered that it had an unexpected problem. Although light and heat-resistant, ceramic is not suitable for repeated flights because it is prone to cracking and breaking under the impact of strong vibrations and harsh thermal cycles. The constant expansion and contraction in the extreme temperatures of launch and re-entry weakens the material. Manually inspecting each ceramic plate after each mission is time-consuming, increases maintenance costs, and extends launch preparation time.
SpaceX's New Starship Heat Tiles to Beat Mars Reentry Shocked NASA...
These limitations have prompted SpaceX to remove ceramics from the Starship design, replacing it with a new type of heat shield - a metallic heat shield: stronger, more heat-resistant to achieve a quick and efficient reuse system.
Furthermore, the atmosphere on Mars is not the same as on Earth. The composition of the Martian atmosphere is very different from that of Earth. Earth's atmosphere is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1.0% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gases. On average, the Martian atmosphere contains about 1% water vapor. However, the Martian atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, and has traces of oxygen, carbon monoxide, water, methane, and other gases, along with a lot of dust. The dust suspended in the air gives the Martian sky a tan color.
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