SpaceX installed battery packs equal to the batteries used in four Tesla Model X cars to power the movement of wings on the SpaceX Starship. Moving the wings will enable the Starship to generate lift during re-entry to lower the peak temperature. This along with lightweight reusable tile heatshields will prevent damage during re-entry.
Elon Musk will present the new SpaceX orbital Starship design on September 28.
Many powerful electric motors & batteries. Force required is enormous, as entire fin moves. More about this on the 28th.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 24, 2019
Exactly. For reusable heatshield, minimize peak heating. For ablative/expendable, minimize total heat. Therefore reusable like Starship wants lift during high Mach reentry for lower peak, but higher total heat.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 24, 2019
Better just to ride your max temp all the way down & let T^4 be your friend. Lower atmosphere cools you down real fast, so not crazy hot after landing.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 24, 2019
Could do it, but we developed low cost reusable tiles that are much lighter than transpiration cooling & quite robust
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 24, 2019
SOURCES – Elon Musk Twitter, SpaceX
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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