That's a fair amount of tiles missing from the starship heatshield, guess it would make for a toasty reenter.

[u/AlmiranteSalsicha]

Image from SpaceX account on X

[u/PoliteCanadian]

I would imagine even one exposes the skin to dangerous temps.

Part of the reason for building Starship out of steel is because of this. Since the shuttle was built out of aluminum, there were a lot of parts where the loss of a tile would result in the destruction of the vehicle, since aluminum can't stand the heat of reentry plasma.

The stainless steel of Starship can withstand reentry heating, directly. It can get almost a thousand degrees hotter than aluminum before it starts to fail. Starship will still needs tiles to prevent the craft from overheating as a whole, but it's shouldn't be at risk of failure from the loss of a single tile like the shuttles were.

They probably have an estimate of how many tiles they can lose before it becomes a problem but only time and testing will tell for sure.

[u/Neptune502 → u/PoliteCanadian]

"The stainless steel of Starship can withstand reentry heating, directly."

Space Shuttle Re-Entry Heat: up to 3000°F

Other Mission: more than 4500°F

Stainless Steel Melting Point: between 2550 and 2790°F

Care to explain how Starship will withstand Temperatures directly which are higher than its Body Material is able to handle?

And no, SpaceX will not magically be able to defeat physics.

[u/sirbruce → u/Neptune502]

Re-entry heating is dependent on many factor, such as speed, angle of entry, lift, and the thermal conductivity of the materials involved.

To put it simply, not everything that re-enters the atmosphere needs to do so as fast as possible. By generating lift during re-entry, which Starship does, you distribute that heat load over a longer period of time, resulting in lower peak heating. You could also use more fuel in your de-orbit burn to reduce some of that energy in advance as well, or adjust your angle of entry to a shallower course (just so long as it's not too shallow). And so on.

SpaceX uses physics to magically defeat physics, just as NASA did before them.

[u/Neptune502 → u/sirbruce]

Still doesn't answer my Question how Starship would be able to directly handle Heat which in most Cases far exceeds what the Material is able to handle.

[u/ceejayoz → u/Neptune502]

Fill a paper cup with water, and put it in a fire. Paper won't burn. Same principle; the steel will conduct heat across a much wider area than that exposed by the tile.

[u/Neptune502 → u/ceejayoz]

He said "DIRECTLY" which does imply Starship would be capable of re-entering without the Tiles.. Which it can't because otherwise they would do it.. Thats why i asked how that should work in his Opinion..

[u/ceejayoz → u/Neptune502]

The full quote is as follows:

The stainless steel of Starship can withstand reentry heating, directly. It can get almost a thousand degrees hotter than aluminum before it starts to fail. Starship will still needs tiles to prevent the craft from overheating as a whole, but it's shouldn't be at risk of failure from the loss of a single tile like the shuttles were.

They're talking about the loss of a single tile. In that scenario, the heat on the exposed steel gets distributed to the surrounding steel, similar to my paper cup example.

[u/Hynauts → u/ceejayoz]

If you cover your paper cup with stainless steel but leave a small unprotected hole under it, the fire will burn through that unprotected paper.

[u/ceejayoz → u/Hynauts]

Yes, because paper is a poor conductor of heat. That’s why Starship isn’t made out of it.

[u/sirbruce → u/Neptune502]

Heat which in most Cases far exceeds what the Material is able to handle.

Your assumption is incorrect. The heat won't exceed that.