I made a short video showing the methane-cooled Starship reentry shield concept. The shield features an inverted bell-shaped geometry, which offers several critical advantages. This configuration is inherently aerodynamically stable, eliminating the need for aft-actuated flaps. Furthermore, the shape significantly enhances aerodynamic braking authority, increases the effective radiative surface area, and improves lift-to-drag ratio for gliding capability during descent. configurations.

The active cooling system involves the injection of methane at a flow rate of approximately 5 kg/s, distributed uniformly across the base of the shield via a single longitudinal injector conduit running the length of the vehicle. If the outer shell of the shield is fabricated from HASTELLOY or a high-melting-point titanium alloy, the structure should be capable of withstanding hundreds—potentially thousands—of reentry cycles with minimal degradation.

In my assessment, this represents the only viable long-term solution for Starship's thermal protection system. The current tile-based heat shield architecture is excessively complex, cost-prohibitive, and unlikely to achieve even a single fully successful reentry without critical failure.

Al this is a result of hundreds of reentry simulations with different shield configurations, cooling intensity and as well various reentry conditions, such as speed, AOA, reentry duration and so on and so on.

All comments and suggestions are most welcome ...