X-43A MACH 10 To use Fire Paste?

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rogers_buck

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The space.com article: <br />http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/x43a_update_040715.html<br /><br />made mention of the thermal protection system used for the upcoming Mach 10 flight.<br /><br />“The coatings that we are using were sort of a mini-research experiment in itself.”<br /><br />Here is a link to a story about the stuf.<br /><br />http://www.baytoday.ca/content/news/details.asp?c=63<br /><br />If we could find out if NASA was using Fire Paste on the X-43A that would be real interesting.<br /><br /><br />
 
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jcdenton

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Well it certainly is a lot cheaper than the tiles on the shuttle. This would certainly mean a huge advancement for cheaper space travel. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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mrmorris

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<font color="yellow">"...the Shuttle tiles are actually not very expensive..."</font><br /><br />OK -- I either have a mistaken impression or I'm misunderstanding your argument. I seem to remember that each 'lost' tile costs about $2000 to replace due to the difficulties in machining them to exact specs and a labor-intensive process. This link seems to agree.<br /><br />It matters not whether the tile <b>materials</b> are dirt cheap, if the cost of maintainining them is prohibitvely expensive.
 
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rogers_buck

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I noticed that the Marshall Space Flight center's symposium has thermal protection as one of its needs for technical development. It may be silly of me, but covering an aluminum air frame in silica aerogel fire bricks seems crude at best. A spray on coating seems much more in keeping with the modern era. This is a critical system for any orbital-reentry or hyper-sonic vehicle. Rutan's rig was not heated all that much, but if Space Ship 2 is orbital it will likely hit the atmosphere at Mach 20. Nothing care-free about that kind of reentry unless a good therml protection system is in hand. This fire-paste stuff seems to down-home simple to work. I'm wondering if NASA takes it seriously. I wonder if that is the "coating" on the X43-A? Any ideas how to find out?<br /><br />
 
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mrmorris

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<font color="yellow">"...when we loose about one tile in 30 missions..."</font><br /><br />K -- that's the catch (i.e. with what I've read). Every article I've seen talks up lost tiles. If anyone had asked me to give an uneducated (obviously) guess at the number of tiles lost per mission, I'd have guessed between 10 and 50. I know (or <b>think</b> I know) that the early missions lost more tiles. From what you're saying -- this is a problem that has been resolved.<br /><br />I doubt that I'm alone in thinking that the tiles are a bigger problem than they are, though. It'd be interesting to take a poll of people here to see how many think the tiles continue to be a serious problem and expense for the Shuttle.<br />
 
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rogers_buck

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I too would have guessed a few tiles/mission with tons and tons of checking and maintenance per mission just to make sure they aren't falling off.
 
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jschaef5

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one quick question, wouldn't that stuff fall off during takeoff. I mean wouldn't the air rip it off? its only a paste. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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dub_

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...<br /><br /><br />That's just the name. It hardens, you know. It's like a clay.
 
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nexium

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Is it possible to buy some of the removed, broken or reject tiles cheap? They should have numerious experimental uses. Neil
 
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davf

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I have seen them for sale at the KSC visitor website store. Keep your eyes peeled and you can find them. I have a couple from Buran, for instance.
 
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