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Shuttle's tiles not being durable as hoped is what killed it's turnaround time. The problem was never solved and turned what was supposed to be a few days into
by jordanb 5mo ago
Shuttle's tiles not being durable as hoped is what killed it's turnaround time.
The problem was never solved and turned what was supposed to be a few days into weeks or months. Every mission the shuttle had to go back into the assembly building and have all tiles inspected and potentially replaced.
- dnautics 5mo agoShuttle tiles were also unique per position and starship tiles have a few base forms that are interchangeable
- amluto 5mo agoI would also believe that a robot could inspect and replace tiles a lot faster than humans.
- laughing_man 5mo agoShuttle tiles were also bonded to the body, which I don't believe is the case with most of the Starship tiles.
- cma 5mo agoI thought Starship has many unique tiles, they ended up needing to vary thickness to match heat patterns to save weight and have some complicated geometry near the fins. Shuttle had more unique perimeter shapes, but starship still has a lot of variation due to tickness. I don't know if that is easier to vary in production or still needs custom molds for the variation.
- dzhiurgis 5mo agoTotal 6 shuttles built over 35 years. SpaceX already crashed 12 over 5 or so years. Obviously doesn’t guarantee they’ll find solution, but fast iteration will definitely help.