Canon EOS 5D
ƒ/3.5
16 mm
1/50
320
Elon Musk inspects the heat shield assembly. The carbon phenolic tiles on the left do the heavy work of reentry.
They are quite a bit larger than the ones I saw on Atlantis
One response to “Heat Shield”
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Comparing the Dragon TPS tiles to the shuttle is rather obtuse. Two different materials entirely. Sizing for Dragon is dictated by the material, reentry profile and ballistic characteristics of the vehicle- much different than an STS orbiter.
No one ever touted something little known regarding special ablative tiles on
Orbiter 102, "Columbia". On the inside, next to fuselage ends of the flaperons
were very large ablative sections cut similar to tiles. It was the only orbiter flying with them (versus the silica tiles). Those segments on the Dragon shield very much remind me of them.
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