“We were interested in looking at the most sustainable systems,” Camarda told Ars. “The first thing I have ever tested was actually an entirely metallic shuttle attack edge, and it used heat callades, and it was built by McDonnell Douglas. It was a competitor with reinforced carbon carbon, the passive attack edge system.”
In the end, NASA opted for the reinforced carbon carbon thermal shield for the main edges of the wings of the shuttle and nose, while the shuttle belly was protected by ceramic tiles. It was one of these reinforced carbon-carbon panels that broke the space shuttle Colombia When it was affected by a piece of foam from the external shuttle tank at the launch in January 2003. The damage was not detected until the shuttle separates during the start of the school year 16 days later, killing the seven astronauts on board.
Camarda stolen as a mission specialist during the next shuttle flight in 2005 after NASA developed techniques to repair a damaged thermal shield in space.
“I did a lot of radiant heating tests and hypersonic wind tunnel from this fully metallic wing attack edge, and it would essentially take the heat of the lower surface and pump it mainly to the upper surface, so that the whole wing attack shines almost at the same temperature because it was an effective two -phase heat transfer,” said Camarda.
Camarda’s work in the branch of thermal structures of the NASA Langley Research Center was limited to the ground tests in high temperature blows. His creations have never stolen from the space shuttle.
“When I saw [SpaceX] Tested different types of metallic heat shields, guys … in my old branch, all said: “Wow, it’s phenomenal!” We want us to be young again and NASA was also lively, you know? But unfortunately, we could not see it. “”
Camarda said that NASA’s approach on tests is very different from how SpaceX manages things.
NASA astronaut Chris Ferguson, commander STS-135, right, and Doug Hurley pilot, on the left, examine the orbit thermal tiles after the space shuttle Atlantis Airée at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, finishing STS-135, the final mission of the NASA shuttle program on Thursday, July 21, 2011.
Credit: Smiley N. Pool / Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
“It’s incredible what these guys do, and they do it so quickly, and they test a lot at the same time,” said Camarda. “I almost wonder if it is an intelligent thing to do. He fails to big. Is his vehicle cheap that he could use it as a hypersonic flight test? Is it so inexpensive that it could afford to do it?
“In a research center, we had so limited budgets that we had to suffocate and save each little thing,” said Camarda. “So, we would adopt an approach to construction blocks and never be as daring as to do this very big test with several hundred changes. It’s crazy.”
The elephant in the room
SpaceX blamed starship setbacks this year on fuel leaks and engine dysfunction. In addition to the flight failures of the program, another starship exploded during a ground test in June when a nitrogen tank failed.
Elon Musk mentioned none of this when he appeared for about 20 minutes on the live broadcast of SpaceX on Monday. Musk was originally planned to provide a “technical update” on the X Space platform on Sunday. In this format, Musk would probably have been able to answer questions from the members of the Space Press Body and space enthusiasts eager for details not only on the promise of a rocket as potentially revolutionary as Starship, but the obstacles that SpaceX must overcome to make a reality.
But SpaceX canceled the event without explanation. Instead, Musk appeared on the official pre-element of SpaceX. Most of the discussions have concentrated not on detailed technical updates, but on familiar musk discussion points: making humanity a multi-planet species, and why a rocket like stars is necessary to get there.
After the thermal shield, one of the next major test objectives for the Starship program will be orbit supplies. This is a crucial prerequisite for all starship flights traveling in deep space. The gigantic spacex rocket is designed to transport up to 150 metric tons of payload in low orbit, but it cannot go further without recharge from its cryogenic propellant tanks.
