Aerogel is nice, but space shuttle thermal tiles are made of ceramic fibers and provide protection against temperatures up to 2,300-degrees F. A total of 20,548 HRSI (High-Temperature Reusable Surface Insulation) tiles covered the landing gear doors, external tank umbilical connection doors and under surfaces on the shuttle.
These black HRSI tiles work by reflecting approximately 90 percent of the heat they’re exposed to back into the atmosphere, while the tiles’ interior absorbs the rest. In other words, they conduct heat very poorly and thus keep it from penetrating the shuttle’s metal skin. In this demonstration, the tiles are shown to dissipate heat so efficiently that you can pick them up straight out of a 2,200-degree F oven.
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The shuttle tile is made of a material which is a silica, alumina fiber and borosilicate glass composite. The making of tiles begins with pure silica that comes from refined sand. This material is formed in fibers and mixed with pure water and other chemicals, then poured into a mold where the excess water is squeezed out. This is then taken to the largest microwave oven in America located at the Lockheed Space Operations plant in Sunnyvale, California,” said NASA.
