"Compared to the first problem, this problem is much more serious."

"If we look at the current insulation materials and design, the Xinghai will need to replace the insulation materials on the outside of the fuselage every 10-12 voyages on average."

Hearing this, Xu Chuan frowned.

The insulation tiles need to be replaced every 10-12 voyages. This data is completely incomparable with the design expectations.

In the design, the insulation materials on the Xinghai can be used repeatedly for a long time. Even if there are problems, they should only be partial problems.

But now, this service life has been drastically shortened by a large part.

Although compared to the US space shuttle orbiter, the average data of replacing insulation tiles in 10-12 flight cycles is already quite excellent.

After all, whether it is the space shuttle orbiter of the United States or the former Hong Kong, basically all the insulation tiles have to be replaced after each launch and landing.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! But for Xinghai, this data failed to meet expectations.

Frowning, Xu Chuan flipped through the report documents in his hand and found the data on the return of the Xinghai space shuttle.

It can be clearly seen from the speed chart that when returning, the highest speed of Xinghai reached Mach 27.46.

After conversion, it almost reaches a speed of 9.5 kilometers per second, which is almost close to the second speed of the universe.

If it is a sunny day with good weather and a cloudless ground, and Xinghai flies by at this speed, it will be difficult for the human eye to capture the image even in a wide viewing distance.

At most, you will see a black dot passing across the sky in a blink of an eye.

Even if this is only the peak speed at the beginning of the return to the atmosphere, and will soon decrease afterwards, the thermal barrier effect produced by such a high return speed is still a great pressure for the space shuttle.

Although relevant situations were considered at the beginning of the design and certain mitigation measures and means were taken, it is obvious that the current situation still exceeds the expected threshold.

Of course, it is not unacceptable for a space shuttle to replace the insulation tiles on the outside of the space shuttle every 10-12 flights.

Especially since most of the external insulation tiles of Xinghai can be made into standard parts, the cost is much lower than that of traditional space shuttles.

Considering the cost, these are not unacceptable.

But aside from cost, Xu Chuan also needs to consider another point, and that is: ‘safety’!

The excessive thermal barrier effect puts great pressure on the space shuttle, especially the external insulation materials.

Excessive friction temperature may cause insulation tiles and other materials to fall off, thereby causing great damage to the space shuttle. In serious cases, it is not impossible for accidents such as the explosion and disintegration of the space shuttle to occur repeatedly.

The cause of the Space Shuttle Columbia accident was that the heat insulation tiles were damaged and the hot air flow burned through the aluminum fuselage, causing an explosion.

And this is not the first time that the space shuttle's insulation tiles have been damaged.

In 1988, the space shuttle Atlantis had an identical accident.

Fortunately, it finally returned safely. Because there was a stainless steel antenna under the fallen insulation tile, and its heat resistance is much higher than that of aluminum alloy.

For Xu Chuan, the safety issues of the space shuttle caused by the damage or falling off of the insulation tiles are something he needs to avoid and overcome at all costs.
Chapter completed!