Mainly because of the chemical nature of carbon, a silicon carbide coating is needed to avoid the carbon substrate from oxidizing. Oxidization would adversely impact the mechanical properties from the substrate and because the shuttle was persistently required to perform in a remarkably demanding natural environment multiple instances, this needed https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0NNw1bv5aZgz2gP6Xexzvnd1Ao5UWCkERH9EPmqcWDoBnCk5qru6EFBWo3EUbjCCil&id=61560512640678&__cft__[0]=AZWxI5LIql3MAvWUwgUm3NibpdMQJ2-VT-LrNE8PAqwOKuUbRHcZkH9mnA5n4t4xL8_oIRPetX8TC_XJ2pq2OAUX0kTu-VLWG3Vh2gHNgL_DI96-3l_XBo6Rtj9Z_OsRE8kWP1QUBeO5n4FVfjYrm5C4rKZJLTFyUyZAQXwOH8RDxe08YGg-MDqH-3SGZlU2zfJVydU0g266ApuBpflQtfLO&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R