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SJMG 4 hours ago

I'm concerned about the cracking clearly visible on the heat shield tiles. It doesn't bode well for rapid reusability.

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WalterBright 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I thought the tiles were designed for easy replacement, so not a big concern with replacing cracked ones.

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EA 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The tiles ablate. The shuttle returned from every mission with missing tiles.

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jordanb 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

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.

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dnautics 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Shuttle tiles were also unique per position and starship tiles have a few base forms that are interchangeable

	▲	amluto 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I would also believe that a robot could inspect and replace tiles a lot faster than humans.

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sidewndr46 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Well, every mission that it returned from it had missing tiles. That is not the same thing as returning from every mission.

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throwaway85825 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The shuttle required long expensive refurbishment after each flight.

	▲	b112 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Just made me realise, this is just like the F-35. Its turn around time is ridiculous, it has to be maintained with specialized equipment/hangers, along with external contractor assistance. Compared to the Gripen, as an example, which can land on a freeway and be up in the air again in a few minutes. One was designed to be used in war, in desperate scenarios, with no ability to coddle it. The other, the F-35? Is designed around milking the taxpayer as much as possible, and employing people in as many politician's states as possible. The shuttle was like that, I think. Which is really sad.

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simmonmt 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I mean ... step 1 is probably fixing the part where it lands in the ocean, falls over and explodes. Once they've done that and can get their hands on the tiles I'm guessing they can continue to iterate there until they get a more easily reusable design.

	▲	shigawire 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		That part was intentional
	▲	idiotsecant 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Dang, a random HN user solving all the world's problems yet again, what would humanity do without you random HN guy?