Randall Clague wrote: > >I have never liked ablative methods. Yet they seem to be the best. > > I have a simple philosophy: Do What Works. Ablatives work.
A fundamental issue here seems to be that the Shuttle TPS tile system has been just barely adequate at best... no previous shuttle actually burned up, but it seems that many flights have come back slightly scorched, with a few missing tiles and some localized heat damage to the metal structure underneath. It seems to me that a renewable ablative system, some sort of phenolic/fiber composite, perhaps - grind the char layer down to intact material and laminate on fresh layers to rebuild it to the original thickness between flights - could have advantages. It might have been better to assume that the TPS would need a refurbishment cycle between flights, and design it to accomodate that. The present system was initially assumed to be a once-and- for-all permanent installation, but it didn't work out that way, and its turnaround procedure is more like a museum restoration of an antique mosaic than an efficient industrial process. -dave w _______________________________________________ ERPS-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
