Space shuttle have to deal with thousands of degrees when reentering earths atmosphere. Most materials would be destroyed with these intense temperatures, so how does it work. The main thing about the tiles is that most of them are made of silicon fibers. The cubes are about 94% air ( air is a poor thermal conductor) The silicon fibers are also poor thermal conductor. Both together makes the heat from the air friction get absorbed slower keeping the inside of the ship cool. The black tiles on the shuttle are tiles that were given a black glass coating that reflects 90% of the heat back into the atmosphere. The white tiles are the normal tiles. The third type of tiles are denser and stronger tiles that are made to keep the shuttle protected from space particles.
For more info go to https://www.airspacemag.com/how-things-work/shuttle-tiles-12580671/?page=1
This is important to engineering because it allows use not to waste money on space craft that can only be used once, and instead spend money on important things. It also allows us to send up and repair satellite (that is what the space shuttle was built for).
