Could Ancient Pottery Improve Spacecraft Tiles?

You might not think that a collaboration to study the chemical and physical properties of ancient Attic pottery would have anything to do with space missions, but, well, you'd be mistaken.

Earlier this year, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded nearly $500,000 to scientists from the Getty Conservation Institute, Stanford's National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) and the Aerospace Corporation to do just that.

Among other objectives, it is hoped that the project will improve our understanding of iron-spinel chemistry, which is critical to the advanced ceramics used for thermal protection in aerospace applications, such as protective tiles on the Mars Rover Sojourner, or the fleet of space shuttles, for example.
Attic1

"Ceramic components are used all through space technology and space vehicles," materials scientist Mark Zurbuchen told Physorg.com. "We need to continue to learn about interactions of components within these materials to help us better understand any real-world issues that may arise in actual space components."

http://news.discovery.com/space/slac-analysis-of-attic-pottery-could-improve-space-shuttle-tiles-111230.html#mkcpgn=twsci1