On 9/14/2010 3:58 AM, David Spain wrote:
Pat Flannery wrote:
On 9/14/2010 4:27 AM, Pat Flannery wrote:
http://spacefellowship.com/wp-conten...7b-610x386.jpg

BTW, that stuff on the the sides and aft end sure looks like woven
carbon fiber mats to me.

Pat

The gray squares above the wings and maybe along the wing top surfaces?

That's the stuff, yes.
It's considerably darker in color than the fabric TPS on the Shuttle
orbiter.
One of the things they investigated during the NASP program was
lightweight woven TPS elements to avoid the fragility problem of the
Shuttle's silica tiles.
Although these look like some sort of woven carbon fiber to me, they
could also be woven metallic or ceramic material.

Pat