LI-900 silica tiles
E684171
LI-900 silica tiles are ultra-lightweight, heat-resistant ceramic tiles used to protect the Space Shuttle from the extreme temperatures of atmospheric reentry.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| LI-900 silica tiles canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7722594 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: LI-900 silica tiles Context triple: [Space Shuttle thermal protection system, includesComponent, LI-900 silica tiles]
-
A.
Sill
Sill is the surname of American singer-songwriter Judee Sill, known for her baroque folk compositions in the early 1970s.
-
B.
Sill
The Sill is a river in Tyrol, Austria, that flows through the Wipptal valley and the city of Innsbruck before joining the Inn.
-
C.
DuPont Tedlar
DuPont Tedlar is a durable polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) film widely used for protective and decorative surface applications in industries such as construction, photovoltaics, and transportation.
-
D.
Plexipave
Plexipave is a brand of acrylic hardcourt tennis surface widely used in professional and recreational sports facilities for its consistent bounce and durability.
-
E.
Siligo
Siligo is a small municipality in the Logudoro region of northern Sardinia, Italy, known for its rural landscape and traditional Sardinian culture.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: LI-900 silica tiles Target entity description: LI-900 silica tiles are ultra-lightweight, heat-resistant ceramic tiles used to protect the Space Shuttle from the extreme temperatures of atmospheric reentry.
-
A.
Sill
Sill is the surname of American singer-songwriter Judee Sill, known for her baroque folk compositions in the early 1970s.
-
B.
Sill
The Sill is a river in Tyrol, Austria, that flows through the Wipptal valley and the city of Innsbruck before joining the Inn.
-
C.
DuPont Tedlar
DuPont Tedlar is a durable polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) film widely used for protective and decorative surface applications in industries such as construction, photovoltaics, and transportation.
-
D.
Plexipave
Plexipave is a brand of acrylic hardcourt tennis surface widely used in professional and recreational sports facilities for its consistent bounce and durability.
-
E.
Siligo
Siligo is a small municipality in the Logudoro region of northern Sardinia, Italy, known for its rural landscape and traditional Sardinian culture.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
ceramic tile
ⓘ
reusable surface insulation ⓘ thermal protection material ⓘ |
| appliedTo |
Space Shuttle leading edges vicinity
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Space Shuttle lower surface NERFINISHED ⓘ Space Shuttle nose area ⓘ |
| attachmentFeature | strain isolation pad between tile and structure ⓘ |
| attachmentMethod | bonded to Shuttle skin with silicone adhesive ⓘ |
| category | aerospace thermal protection system ⓘ |
| coating | black borosilicate glass coating ⓘ |
| coatingFunction |
protect silica substrate from moisture
ⓘ
radiate heat away ⓘ |
| color |
black on coated surface
ⓘ
white on uncoated silica core ⓘ |
| compositionByWeight |
approximately 10 percent silica fiber
ⓘ
approximately 90 percent air ⓘ |
| density |
about 144 kilograms per cubic meter
ⓘ
about 9 pounds per cubic foot ⓘ |
| developedAt | NASA Ames Research Center NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| developedBy | NASA NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| developedForProgram | Space Shuttle program NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| era | 1970s ⓘ |
| function |
insulate against aerodynamic heating
ⓘ
protect Space Shuttle aluminum structure during reentry ⓘ |
| manufacturingProcess |
sintered silica fiber block machining
ⓘ
surface glazing with glass coating ⓘ |
| massPerTile | typically less than 1 kilogram ⓘ |
| material | amorphous silica ⓘ |
| notableFeature | can be held by edges while red-hot without burning hand ⓘ |
| operatedIn | low Earth orbit missions ⓘ |
| property |
brittle
ⓘ
high thermal shock resistance ⓘ highly porous ⓘ low thermal conductivity ⓘ ultra-lightweight ⓘ |
| protects | Space Shuttle aluminum airframe ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
FRCI-12 tiles
ⓘ
LI-2200 silica tiles ⓘ |
| replacedPartiallyBy | FRCI-12 tiles on later Shuttle flights ⓘ |
| reusability | reusable for multiple missions ⓘ |
| shape | mostly square or rectangular blocks ⓘ |
| thermalConductivity | very low ⓘ |
| usedFor | thermal protection during atmospheric reentry ⓘ |
| usedOn | NASA Space Shuttle orbiter NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| vulnerability |
susceptible to impact damage
ⓘ
susceptible to moisture absorption if coating is damaged ⓘ |
| withstandTemperature |
up to about 1260 degrees Celsius
ⓘ
up to about 2300 degrees Fahrenheit ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: LI-900 silica tiles Description of subject: LI-900 silica tiles are ultra-lightweight, heat-resistant ceramic tiles used to protect the Space Shuttle from the extreme temperatures of atmospheric reentry.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.