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