Loading video...

Video Failed to Load

There was a problem loading this video. This could be due to a temporary network issue or the video might be unavailable.

Solving the reusable heat shield is the single biggest problem Starship has~ Elon Musk

Ellie in Space 🚀💫

103,776 subscribers

26,216 views • 1 year ago •via X (Twitter)

Science & Technology News & Politics

Anya Rossi• Live Now

Private livecam show

0 Comments

No comments available

Comments from the original post will appear here

Related Videos

ELON: NO ONE HAS EVER CREATED A REUSABLE ORBITAL HEAT SHIELD "It has never been done before. Even with the shuttle’s heat shield, they would lose many of the tiles on every flight and have to refurbish the shield between each mission. No one has ever created a fully reusable orbital heat shield nor rocket. The heat shield problem is the single biggest remaining challenge for Starship." Source: Tesla Owners Silicon Valley

ELON: NO ONE HAS EVER CREATED A REUSABLE ORBITAL HEAT SHIELD "It has never been done before. Even with the shuttle’s heat shield, they would lose many of the tiles on every flight and have to refurbish the shield between each mission. No one has ever created a fully reusable orbital heat shield nor rocket. The heat shield problem is the single biggest remaining challenge for Starship." Source: Tesla Owners Silicon Valley

Mario Nawfal

74,517 views • 1 year ago

Elon Musk on the fundamental breakthrough for humanity to become multi-planetary: Why building a fully reusable orbital heat shield is the hardest problem SpaceX must solve with Starship.

Elon Musk on the fundamental breakthrough for humanity to become multi-planetary: Why building a fully reusable orbital heat shield is the hardest problem SpaceX must solve with Starship.

Ian Miles Cheong

23,223 views • 10 months ago

Elon Musk on reusable heat shield and Mars reentry: — No one has created a truly reusable orbital heat shield before — Reentry involves extreme heat and pressure — very hard to withstand — Only advanced ceramics and carbon-based materials can survive it — SpaceX aims to make the first fully reusable, reliable orbital heat shield... difficult but physically achievable — CO₂ plasma releases free oxygen, which can burn the heat shield — Testing is done in CO₂ to ensure it works for both Earth and Mars

Elon Musk on reusable heat shield and Mars reentry: — No one has created a truly reusable orbital heat shield before — Reentry involves extreme heat and pressure — very hard to withstand — Only advanced ceramics and carbon-based materials can survive it — SpaceX aims to make the first fully reusable, reliable orbital heat shield... difficult but physically achievable — CO₂ plasma releases free oxygen, which can burn the heat shield — Testing is done in CO₂ to ensure it works for both Earth and Mars

Dima Zeniuk

349,213 views • 9 months ago

Elon Musk on Starship at X Takeover: • Starship is one of the hardest engineering challenges ever attempted — three times the thrust of Saturn V and fully reusable • Starship is late, but not impossible • The biggest current hurdle is developing a fully reusable orbital heat shield — something no one has done before • The long-term goal is to make Starship cheaper per ton than even an expendable Falcon 1 • Next major milestone: orbital refilling — transferring mostly liquid oxygen between Starships in space • No one else is seriously attempting this level of reusability or innovation in rocketry

Elon Musk on Starship at X Takeover: • Starship is one of the hardest engineering challenges ever attempted — three times the thrust of Saturn V and fully reusable • Starship is late, but not impossible • The biggest current hurdle is developing a fully reusable orbital heat shield — something no one has done before • The long-term goal is to make Starship cheaper per ton than even an expendable Falcon 1 • Next major milestone: orbital refilling — transferring mostly liquid oxygen between Starships in space • No one else is seriously attempting this level of reusability or innovation in rocketry

Dima Zeniuk

1,208,439 views • 1 year ago

ELON: NO ONE HAS EVER MADE A FULLY REUSABLE ORBITAL HEAT SHIELD "For full reusability of the ship, there's still a lot of work that remains on the heat shield. No one has ever made a fully reusable orbital heat shield. The shuttle heat shield had to go through nine months of repair after every flight." Source: The All-In Podcast

ELON: NO ONE HAS EVER MADE A FULLY REUSABLE ORBITAL HEAT SHIELD "For full reusability of the ship, there's still a lot of work that remains on the heat shield. No one has ever made a fully reusable orbital heat shield. The shuttle heat shield had to go through nine months of repair after every flight." Source: The All-In Podcast

Mario Nawfal

72,683 views • 10 months ago

Elon Musk on reusable heat shields and Mars reentry: — No one has created a truly reusable orbital heat shield before — Reentry involves extreme heat and pressure — very hard to withstand — Only advanced ceramics and carbon-based materials can survive it — SpaceX aims to make the first fully reusable, reliable orbital heat shield... difficult but physically achievable — CO₂ plasma releases free oxygen, which can burn the heat shield — Testing is done in CO₂ to ensure it works for both Earth and Mars

Elon Musk on reusable heat shields and Mars reentry: — No one has created a truly reusable orbital heat shield before — Reentry involves extreme heat and pressure — very hard to withstand — Only advanced ceramics and carbon-based materials can survive it — SpaceX aims to make the first fully reusable, reliable orbital heat shield... difficult but physically achievable — CO₂ plasma releases free oxygen, which can burn the heat shield — Testing is done in CO₂ to ensure it works for both Earth and Mars

Dima Zeniuk

1,493,284 views • 1 year ago

Elon Musk on why a fully reusable orbital heat shield is one of the hardest problems in rocketry: “No one has ever developed a fully reusable orbital heat shield. When you come in from orbital velocity, you come in like a flaming meteor - a raging ball of fire. It’s hard to have a heat shield that doesn’t partially melt or get destroyed in that process” This is exactly the brutal challenge SpaceX is solving right now SpaceX now has the most advanced heat tiles in history. These continuous V3 upgrades ensure the thermal protection system survives extreme reentry without needing complete refurbishment between flights

Elon Musk on why a fully reusable orbital heat shield is one of the hardest problems in rocketry: “No one has ever developed a fully reusable orbital heat shield. When you come in from orbital velocity, you come in like a flaming meteor - a raging ball of fire. It’s hard to have a heat shield that doesn’t partially melt or get destroyed in that process” This is exactly the brutal challenge SpaceX is solving right now SpaceX now has the most advanced heat tiles in history. These continuous V3 upgrades ensure the thermal protection system survives extreme reentry without needing complete refurbishment between flights

X Freeze

95,042 views • 4 months ago

A truly reusable orbital heat shield has never been made, but I think SpaceX has a decent chance of solving it in 2025 and solving it well in 2026

A truly reusable orbital heat shield has never been made, but I think SpaceX has a decent chance of solving it in 2025 and solving it well in 2026

Elon Musk

33,200,612 views • 1 year ago

Elon Musk: For Starship to work, we still need to solve a problem that has never been solved by anyone. “What's the single biggest remaining problem for Starship? It's having the heat shield be reusable. No one has ever made a reusable orbital heat shield. The heat shield's got to make it through the ascent phase without shocking a bunch of tiles. And then it's going to come back in and also not lose a bunch of tiles or overheat the main airframe. Isn't that hard because it's kind of fundamentally a consumable. It just needs to last a very long time. We have brought the ship back and had it do a soft landing in the ocean. I've done that a few times. But it lost a lot of tiles. It was not reusable without a lot of work. So even though it did come to a soft landing, it would not have been reusable without a lot of work. So it's not really reusable in that sense. That's the biggest problem that remains. So if you want to be able to land it, refill propellant, and fly again, you can't do this laborious inspection of 40,000 tiles type of thing.” Interview with John Collison and Dwarkesh Patel, February 5, 2026

Elon Musk: For Starship to work, we still need to solve a problem that has never been solved by anyone. “What's the single biggest remaining problem for Starship? It's having the heat shield be reusable. No one has ever made a reusable orbital heat shield. The heat shield's got to make it through the ascent phase without shocking a bunch of tiles. And then it's going to come back in and also not lose a bunch of tiles or overheat the main airframe. Isn't that hard because it's kind of fundamentally a consumable. It just needs to last a very long time. We have brought the ship back and had it do a soft landing in the ocean. I've done that a few times. But it lost a lot of tiles. It was not reusable without a lot of work. So even though it did come to a soft landing, it would not have been reusable without a lot of work. So it's not really reusable in that sense. That's the biggest problem that remains. So if you want to be able to land it, refill propellant, and fly again, you can't do this laborious inspection of 40,000 tiles type of thing.” Interview with John Collison and Dwarkesh Patel, February 5, 2026

ELON CLIPS

40,975 views • 4 months ago

Elon Musk says one heat shield problem could kill Starship's reusability for years. Starship is the most complicated machine humans have ever built. The hardest part isn't the engines. It isn't the steel. It isn't even the explosion margin on liftoff. Musk named the one remaining bottleneck. "It's having the heat shield be reusable. No one's ever made a reusable orbital heat shield." The shield does two impossible jobs. "It's gotta make it through the ascent phase without shucking a bunch of tiles, and then it's gotta come back in and also not lose a bunch of tiles or overheat the main airframe." 40,000 tiles per ship. Musk reframed the consumable problem through brake pads: "Your brake pads in your car are also consumable, but they last a very long time." The shield must consume slowly. It must not require inspection between launches. Musk on the current state: "We have brought the ship back and had it do a soft landing in the ocean. But it lost a lot of tiles." A soft landing is not reusability. The bar is daily launches. One ship. Many flights. Musk, on the gap that's left: "You can't do this laborious inspection of 40,000 tiles type of thing." The first reusable heat shield in history is the last gate to Mars. If you're new here, GeniusThinking is a gallery for the greatest minds in economics, psychology, and history. Follow along for more similar content. — Elon Musk ( Elon Musk ), CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, on Dwarkesh Patel's ( Dwarkesh Patel ) podcast

Elon Musk says one heat shield problem could kill Starship's reusability for years. Starship is the most complicated machine humans have ever built. The hardest part isn't the engines. It isn't the steel. It isn't even the explosion margin on liftoff. Musk named the one remaining bottleneck. "It's having the heat shield be reusable. No one's ever made a reusable orbital heat shield." The shield does two impossible jobs. "It's gotta make it through the ascent phase without shucking a bunch of tiles, and then it's gotta come back in and also not lose a bunch of tiles or overheat the main airframe." 40,000 tiles per ship. Musk reframed the consumable problem through brake pads: "Your brake pads in your car are also consumable, but they last a very long time." The shield must consume slowly. It must not require inspection between launches. Musk on the current state: "We have brought the ship back and had it do a soft landing in the ocean. But it lost a lot of tiles." A soft landing is not reusability. The bar is daily launches. One ship. Many flights. Musk, on the gap that's left: "You can't do this laborious inspection of 40,000 tiles type of thing." The first reusable heat shield in history is the last gate to Mars. If you're new here, GeniusThinking is a gallery for the greatest minds in economics, psychology, and history. Follow along for more similar content. — Elon Musk ( Elon Musk ), CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, on Dwarkesh Patel's ( Dwarkesh Patel ) podcast

GeniusThinking

635,763 views • 2 months ago

Elon Musk “A fully reusable orbital rocket may be the hardest engineering problem of all time. SpaceX is tackling it with the most talented group.”

Elon Musk “A fully reusable orbital rocket may be the hardest engineering problem of all time. SpaceX is tackling it with the most talented group.”

Tesla Owners Silicon Valley

495,947 views • 7 months ago

Elon Musk “A fully reusable orbital rocket may be the hardest engineering problem of all time. SpaceX is tackling it with the most talented group.”

Elon Musk “A fully reusable orbital rocket may be the hardest engineering problem of all time. SpaceX is tackling it with the most talented group.”

Tesla Owners Silicon Valley

54,695 views • 7 months ago

Elon proving doubters wrong time and time again. "Starship never flies". Elon Musk when is the next Starship test?

Elon proving doubters wrong time and time again. "Starship never flies". Elon Musk when is the next Starship test?

Ken Synopsis

1,561,350 views • 3 years ago

“Man, Starship is a hard, hard, hard project. This is the biggest rocket ever made. It will have a thrust and mass double that of a Saturn V, which is the largest rocket to reach orbit. And it is intended to be fully and rapidly reusable.” Elon Musk

“Man, Starship is a hard, hard, hard project. This is the biggest rocket ever made. It will have a thrust and mass double that of a Saturn V, which is the largest rocket to reach orbit. And it is intended to be fully and rapidly reusable.” Elon Musk

Tesla Owners Silicon Valley

1,890,475 views • 1 year ago

SpaceX Starship had a miracle happen. The landing of Starship was so soft that the fires did not cause an explosion. Starship survived intact. Revealing the exact condition of the heat shield and exactly where the heat shield and underlayer had damage.

SpaceX Starship had a miracle happen. The landing of Starship was so soft that the fires did not cause an explosion. Starship survived intact. Revealing the exact condition of the heat shield and exactly where the heat shield and underlayer had damage.

nextbigfuture

12,351 views • 10 days ago

Elon Musk explains why solving the hands problem is the key to building a true humanoid robot — and why the human hand is one of evolution’s greatest engineering marvels.

Elon Musk explains why solving the hands problem is the key to building a true humanoid robot — and why the human hand is one of evolution’s greatest engineering marvels.

Ian Miles Cheong

21,813 views • 10 months ago

ELON: STARSHIP IS THE MOST COMPLICATED MACHINE HUMANS HAVE EVER MADE "There isn't a more complex machine. Nobody has ever made a fully reusable rocket. Many smart people have tried before, with immense resources, and they failed. I think this design (Starship Version 3) can be fully reusable. And that full reusability is what will enable us to become a multi-planet civilization." Source: Cheeky Pint Podcast, Elon Musk

ELON: STARSHIP IS THE MOST COMPLICATED MACHINE HUMANS HAVE EVER MADE "There isn't a more complex machine. Nobody has ever made a fully reusable rocket. Many smart people have tried before, with immense resources, and they failed. I think this design (Starship Version 3) can be fully reusable. And that full reusability is what will enable us to become a multi-planet civilization." Source: Cheeky Pint Podcast, Elon Musk

Mario Nawfal

141,813 views • 5 months ago

Starship is still floating in the Indian Ocean, and Elon Musk has confirmed that SpaceX has sent a vessel to recover it. It’s time to bring Starship home.

Starship is still floating in the Indian Ocean, and Elon Musk has confirmed that SpaceX has sent a vessel to recover it. It’s time to bring Starship home.

SMX 🇺🇸

23,662 views • 4 days ago