From: jeff.findley@ugs.nojunk.com   
      
    wrote in message   
   news:1115991226.057977.159170@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...   
   > VonBraun wrote:   
   > > TPS system?   
   > > I read LockMart wants to use titanium.   Seems like overkill to me.   
   >   
   > Seems inadequate to me. Titanium and its alloys don't have the   
   > temperature tolerance to handle orbital velocity re-entries. (Unless   
   > it's actively cooled, in which case titanium has lousy thermal   
   > conductivity for a metal. You'd be better off with aluminum or copper.)   
   > At best, titanium is a metal suited for "warm" applications. You want a   
   > nice nickel superalloy or something like a tungsten alloy to passively   
   > handle re-entry heat.   
      
   I thought Lockmart wanted to use titanium for the structure, not the TPS.   
      
   Jeff   
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