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Space Shuttle Tile
Engineering 45, SRJC Spring 2014 By: Edgar Oyervides, Nathan Abrams, Tatiana Becerra
Cool…… kids
Thermal Protection System (TPS)
The TPS consists of seven different materials.
Each material, provided a different measure of heat
protection according to where it was positioned on
the spacecraft.
High-temperature Reusable Surface Insulation
Re-entry 17,000 miles/hr reach up to 2,500°F
Under-belly, Nose, Wings bear most heat
Aluminum Structure rarely exceeds 160°F
The Kuiper Airborne Observatory took an infrared image of the underside
of Columbia during the reentry of STS-3 to study temperatures. The orbiter
was 56 kilometers (184,000 ft) high and travelling at Mach 15.6.
Tile Creation http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/npe11.sci.engin.systems
.shuttletile/making-space-shuttle-tiles/
Materials: Two Beakers, Two Torches, Space Tile,
Block of comparable material, Two stands, ice.
Set-up: Place two stands next to each other one with
the space tile, and the other with the comparable
material. Place one beaker on the tile and one beaker
on the comparable material. Fill the beakers with ice.
Directions: Heat both the space shuttle tile and
comparable material with equal heat and time.
Compare how the ice melts under the aluminum to the
ice melting under the space shuttle tile.
Use the IR thermometer to measure the temperatures
on both sides of the tile.
Space Shuttle Tile
Demonstration
Demo
Image: NASA educators from Kennedy,
Frank McDonald and Lania Rosengren
demonstrate the heat resistant qualities of
a space shuttle thermal protection tile to
the students. Photo credit: NASA/Elaine
Marconi
Composition & Characteristics
Pure Silica Glass Fibers
Temperature and pressure applied to form tile
94% Pure Air Light and Strong
Thickness ½ in – 5 in
24,300 unique tiles make up Space Shuttle
Each Custom, No 2 tiles same size
Density 9 lb/ft3
Specific heat .15 BTU/lb-oF
Thermal
conductivity
.028 BTU/ft-hr-oF at 70oF and 1
atm
.073 BTU/ft-hr-oF at 2000oF and
10-4 atm
Maximum
reuse
temperature
>2300 oF
Maximum
single use
temperature
2800 oF
Reusability
at 2300 oF >100 missions
Testing Samples
Columbia Disaster
Cause: Chunk of the insulation from the External Fuel Tank
punched a hole through
T.P.S.
An installed square foot of shuttle tile material,
reusable for up to 100 missions, cost NASA about
$10,000. Comparison:
The ablative heat shields used on Apollo command
modules returning astronauts from the Moon were
priced at $30,000 per square foot, and were used only
once.
Reusable & Cost Effective
Future Expectations
The production of ceramic insulation which can withstand reentry temperatures for spacecraft returning to Earth from the Moon and Mars.
Current material can withstand temperatures of 2300ûF., but 3500ûF. reentry temperatures will not be unusual for astronauts venturing beyond Earth orbit.
Thermal Protection System Subsystems
• REINFORCED CARBON-CARBON • HIGH-TEMPERATURE REUSABLE SURFACE
INSULATION TILES • FIBROUS REFRACTORY COMPOSITE INSULATION
TILES • LOW-TEMPERATURE RESUABLE SURFACE
INSULATION TILES • ADVANCED FLEXIBLE REUSABLE SURFACE
INSULATION BLANKETS • FELT REUSABLE SURFACE INSULATION • THERMAL BARRIERS • TILE IDENTIFICATION • FLAGS AND LETTERS • REWATERPROOFING
Reinforced Carbon-Carbon
• RCC fabrication begins with a rayon cloth graphitized and impregnated with a phenolic resin. This impregnated cloth is layed up as a laminate and cured in an autoclave.
• After being cured, the laminate is pyrolized to convert the resin to carbon. This is then impregnated with furfural alcohol in a vacuum chamber, then cured and pyrolized again to convert the furfural alcohol to carbon. This process is repeated three times until the desired carbon-carbon properties are achieved.
• To provide oxidation resistance for reuse capability, the outer layers of the RCC are converted to silicon carbide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_thermal_protection_system
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/multimedia/iotw-shuttle-tile-test.html
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/npe11.sci.engin.systems.shuttletile/ma
king-space-shuttle-tiles/
http://www.collectspace.com/resources/spaceshuttle_tilenumbers.html
http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/demos/main_pages/13.4.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/834596/posts
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-newsref/stsref-toc.html#sts-rcc
References