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I wonder whether they considered using a metallic heat shield with heat resistant alloys. The cancelled VentureStar space plane was planned to use this approach
by cubefox 2y ago
I wonder whether they considered using a metallic heat shield with heat resistant alloys. The cancelled VentureStar space plane was planned to use this approach:
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20040095922/downloads/20040095922.pdf https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20040095922/downloads/20...
- HPsquared 2y agoThey were originally hoping to use transpiration cooling, the tiles ended up being the fallback.
- cubefox 2y agoYeah, but it isn't clear whether they ever considered a metallic heat shield. At some point in the past it was considered an improvement over ceramic tiles, since the VentureStar was planned as a Space Shuttle successor that fixed its shortcomings.