When we think we have seen it all, Elon Musk surprises us all over again. Besides being the CEO of the multinational automotive company Tesla and the owner of the microblogging platform X, the billionaire businessman also runs a “bakery”.
But Elon Musk's bakery doesn't specialise in cake, pastries, bread or even savouries. Instead, this highly automated facility, situated in Florida in the US, is a SpaceX production site.
FYI: SpaceX is an American space transport services company and aerospace manufacturer, founded by Musk in 2002.
Would you believe that this bakery manufactures ceramic heat shield tiles used on the Starship spacecraft? These meticulously crafted tiles come in sharp hexagonal shapes. They protect the spaceship from the scorching temperatures during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.
Take a look at this video explaining the dynamics of the tiles
Our fully automated bakery in Florida is setup to produce thousands of heat shield tiles per day to outfit the coming fleet of Starship vehicles pic.twitter.com/9Ki278wakx
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 13, 2025
The temperatures can sometimes rise as high as 1,400 degrees Celsius. They have a unique design, comprising intricate pin attachments and small expansion gaps which enable them to flex and adapt without cracking.
Each Starship requires as many as 18,000 hexagonal tiles, which are built from advanced silica-based ceramics layered with black borosilicate glass. The process of constructing the raw material into the finished product takes approximately 40 hours. On average, Elon Musk's unique bakery mass produces thousands of these tiles every day.
Elon Musk also shared the same video on his official X page, calling the outlet "world's most advanced bakery".
World's most advanced bakery https://t.co/XWXklMnjHm
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 14, 2025
The nickname “bakery” is apt for an operation like this since the tiles undergo a rigorous “baking” process. Similar to preparing bread, these one-of-a-kind tiles are placed in high-temperature furnaces to create a perfectly uniform structure. This venture plays a crucial role in Elon Musk's dream of making space travel affordable.
Apart from the ceramic tiles, Starship further incorporates multiple layers of stainless steel as well as ablative materials into the vehicles to boost their power and resilience. Through these innovations, Starship will be able to withstand extreme temperatures while navigating multiple re-entries and landings on the Moon, Earth and Mars.
