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Re:Starship is still not understood by modeless on Friday October 29, 2021 @03:50AM (#29036251)
I don't think that the heat shield is the same as the shuttle's. The tiles are tougher and attached in a different way, and the underlying steel structure can stand more heat than the shuttle's aluminum could.

Orbital refueling is required for HLS and depends on rapid turnaround so SpaceX and NASA must have some confidence that it can be achieved without a radical redesign.

Re:Starship is still not understood by ncmncm on Friday October 29, 2021 @11:25AM (#29039588)
There are differences from the shuttle's tiles, but they are much more similar than different.

Rapid turnaround seems at this stage more an aspiration than a designed feature. It was the same with the shuttle. In that case it was never achieved at all, even with decades of experience.

Turnaround and reuse are desirable, particularly to minimize cost, but not strictly necessary for a successful mission.