Shuttle was aluminium beneath the thermal tiles, so damage to the tiles was catastrophic. The expectation is Starship will be okay with a few tiles out, partly because steel is much more capable than aluminium, and partly because they have backup thermal protection
Sure, but there it a huge chasm between “catastrophic failure” and “looks good to go again next week”, and even minor structural damage will prevent rapid resuse.
Shuttle was aluminium beneath the thermal tiles, so damage to the tiles was catastrophic. The expectation is Starship will be okay with a few tiles out, partly because steel is much more capable than aluminium, and partly because they have backup thermal protection
Sure, but there it a huge chasm between “catastrophic failure” and “looks good to go again next week”, and even minor structural damage will prevent rapid resuse.
I’d much rather be on a spacecraft that wore out too soon than one that catastrophically failed