Starship 20 loses thermal protection tiles with header tank vent

Space Explored By Derek Wise September 27, 2021

Each Starship has roughly 25,000 thermal protection tiles, and production of these tiles is not quick. Image: Derek Wise / Space Explored

SpaceX makes use of a heat shield “bakery” in Cocoa Beach, Florida and will begin producing tiles in Starbase . Image: Starship Gazer

Thermal protection tiles are key to a spacecraft surviving reentry. During reentry , a spacecraft will gain a massive amount of heat, converting the velocity of the vehicle to heat through friction with the air. Image: SpaceX

The current tiles and attachment system seem prone to cracking and falling off, which won’t work if Starship 20, and future Starships, are to survive reentry. The current tiles and attachment system seem prone to cracking and falling off, which won’t work if Starship 20, and future Starships, are to survive reentry. Image: Austin Barnard

This week, during a test of the vehicle's header tank, many tiles on Ship 20 flew off and hit the ground. Image: Lab Padre

Tiles have cracked and fallen off before , but during this test the thermal protection system tiles flew off of Starship far more violently. Image: Derek Wise / Space Explored

SpaceX will need to figure out how to reliably produce more robust thermal tiles and mount them if SpaceX is to fully kit out multiple Starships . SpaceX will need to figure out how to reliably produce more robust thermal tiles and mount them if SpaceX is to fully kit out multiple Starships . Image: Austin Barnard

Hopefully, these issues will be fixed in the future as Starship 20 gets closer to being able to launch. Hopefully, these issues will be fixed in the future as Starship 20 gets closer to being able to launch. Image: Austin Barnard