@elonmusk THIS is how you solve your heat shield problem!
make a mold of the side of the starship you want to renter with.
the ceramic material would be poured into that mold.
in the end you get one solid heat shield instead of small tiles
@elonmusk@cnunezimages Elon since it's all steel why don't you use an electro magnetic field around the hull of the craft that would deflect the plasma created by the re-entry .