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Why does the heatshield have to be on the outside?

In early 2019 after SpaceX changed the Starship design from carbon fiber to stainless steel, Elon Musk said they were considering using transpiration cooling for Starship, essentially sweating liquid ...
Steve Pemberton's user avatar
14 votes

Why does the heatshield have to be on the outside?

To answer some other aspects: In the case of Starship, is the existing steel strong enough (to be non-ablative!), or would a different type of material be necessary? The melting point of most steel ...
ikrase's user avatar
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8 votes

Why does the heatshield have to be on the outside?

"perspiration of ablative material This appears in science-fiction and allows for the possibility of easy maintenance and multi-use, but these benefits are only realizable if some very big ...
DKNguyen's user avatar
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33 votes

Why does the heatshield have to be on the outside?

To answer the title: Why does the heatshield have to be on the outside? Because most materials commonly used in spacecraft construction melt at the temperatures encountered during reentry. And most ...
Hobbes's user avatar
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