What are the tiles on the space shuttle composed of?
ANSWER from Mike Eggers on April 14, 1997: The ceramic tiles are made of 99%+ compressed amorphous silica fiber (sand melted into glass fibers). They are coated with RCG or Reaction Cured Glass. This is a glass coating with boron silicide added for thermal properties (to help the tiles take the heat from re-entry). For more information: Space Shuttle Orbiter Systems http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-newsref/sts_sys.html#sts-hrsi Orbital Thermal Protections System http://www.pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/nasafact/tps.htm The X-Press http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/PAO/X-Press/1998/sep18/page6.html Return to top.
