Silicon-carbide exterior tiles for reusable commercial spacecraft withstand the fiery temperatures of traversing Earth's atmosphere.

Leading commercial space and defense company Sierra Space announced the results of a collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to create new silicon-carbide-based exterior tiles – called a thermal protection system – for reusable commercial spacecraft.

Atmospheric re-entry exposes a craft to blazing temperatures higher than 3,100 degrees Fahrenheit (1,704 degrees Celsius). Sierra Space's thermal tiles, made of a proprietary composite material as strong as carbon fiber but with the added high-temperature stability of ceramic materials, have been designed to withstand the fiery temperatures of traversing Earth's atmosphere over multiple spaceflights to meet the needs of a fast-paced commercial space industry.

"Today marks a new era of spaceflight safety technology, and it's going to enable travel to Low Earth Orbit that will eventually rival the frequency of commercial air travel," said Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice. "Our patent-pending Thermal Protection System is like nothing ever before created and essential to a near future where space travel becomes routine. Reusability of space vehicles is a key factor in expanding the commercial space industry and to do that we need new technology to keep spacecraft and crew safe."

Original exterior tile designs like those used on NASA's Space Shuttle were only required to stand up to the wear and tear of an average of five missions per year. These days, increased launch frequency requires hardier designs.

ORNL and Sierra Space have completed the first phase of the project and are patenting the new material. The second phase will include subjecting the tiles to testing at NASA's Arc Jet plasma facility, to simulate the conditions of atmospheric re-entry. This phase will also explore advanced manufacturing techniques to lower the costs of commercial production.

"To make a new material technology that has the potential to go to space over and over while advancing the U.S. space program is a real thrill," said Greg Larsen, ORNL's group leader for extreme material environment processes. "This is a great example of ORNL's focus on collaborating with industry by applying our deep materials development expertise to real-world industry challenges."

The composite tiles merge advanced materials and an insulative tile backing that will be able to withstand multiple launches and the extremely high temperatures of repeat atmospheric re-entries, combining the heat- and corrosion-resistant properties of silicon carbide with the strength and temperature resistance of carbon fiber into a low-density, low-profile thermal barrier that is critical for providing both insulation and stable flight dynamics.

Among other in-house projects, Sierra Space plans to use the new thermal protection system on its DC100 Dream Chaser, which is designed to carry critical supplies and science experiments to and from the International Space Station under a Commercial Resupply Service contract with NASA.

Sierra Space has contracts with the Department of Defense, national security organizations and programs. In addition, the company provides various solutions across the fields of solar power, mechanics and motion control, environmental control, life support, propulsion and thermal control geared to the new space economy.

TPS research is being performed at the Department of Energy's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL.