u/izzeww

The current design is to some extent ablative and also fairly heavy. There are a lot of issues with this type of design as seen in the space shuttle, requiring refurbishment, cracking, needing additional protection (Starship) and needing to be replaced after a while (how long? we don't know). Early on in the Starship program there were talks about transpiration cooling. Stoke Space is currently developing a vehicle that uses a regeneratively cooled steel heat shield. To me it seems like steel is a more suitable material and that a regenerative or transpiration cooled steel heat shield would make the rocket more reusable (when we are talking 100+ flights per rocket). What are you guys' thought about this idea?