Ritsuko and Ibuki on the catwalk inside the hangar.
TEXT:“Hangar 8, Nerv Headquarters”
RITSUKO (BACK):“The only thing we can defend with now is a shield.”
Along with them, there is a giant shield made for SSTO* leaning against the hangar wall.
*Single Stage to Orbit
TEXT:“Eva Anti-Heat and Light Wave Defensive
Equipment (Makeshift Specs)”
IBUKI (BACK)(OFF):“This is a shield?”
RITSUKO (BACK)(OFF):“Yes. A hand-me-down from an SSTO.”
EvangelionFan: Something I always wondered: if the shield has a gap in it for sight, won't excess heat/energy from Ramiel's laser pass through it and severely damage Unit-00?
Fireand'chutes77: I think that is exactly what happened to Unit-00... Though I don't know if that hole is for sight, or just where the landing gear used to be. A model of the space shuttle I used to have had a slot in *exactly* the same position, but I don't know how accurate it was. Here's a nice high-res shot of the underside of Endeavorer.
EvangelionFan: It could be from the landing gear, but given the position of the slot and the indents around it I'd say it was put in there afterwards so it's likely for sight. Also, although the shuttle image is awesome, keep in mind that space shuttles are a two-stage and booster launch system - the transcript for the episode explicitly says the shield is a hand-me down from a single stage booster system.
Additional Commentary
Fireand'chutes77: Ah. The Ritsuko from my Platinum DVDs says it's "borrowed from the space shuttle," and I hadn't clicked into that part of the episode guide until earlier today.
thewayneiac: Ummm... Is that line about the Space Shuttle from the dub? The Platinum subtitles have:
"Yes. It's a hand-me-down from a single stage to orbit rocket."
Anyway, I had a conversation with Shin-seiki yesterday, and he pointed out something that should have occured to me instantly:
Shin-seiki: That shield couldn't possibly be from the Space Shuttle. The Shuttle's reentry shield is not a single piece; it's made of thousands of individual tiles glued to the shuttle's bottom. Not to mention the fact that a shield designed to deflect the friction heat of reentry would be useless against a beam weapon.
thewayneiac: Wouldn't that would apply to a single-piece shield from an SSTO as well?
Shin-seiki: Yes, the whole idea is ridiculous.
UrsusArctos: With regards to the SSTO's heat shield...
1. It's shaped like the Space Shuttle, bar the slot for vision. While being shaped like the Space Shuttle is no big deal- one assumes that whatever SSTO used that heat shield had a similar aerodynamic configuration, hardly an uncommon thing in and of itself- the slot for vision seems a bit funny. Unless someone knocked out that segment of the heat shield keeping an Eva in mind, there's no reason why that gap should exist. Space Shuttles have no such slot in their Thermal Protection System, or they'd all suffer the same fate as Columbia.
2. The heat shield is obviously not made of tiles like the Shuttle TPS, as you stated. Just for the record, US Shuttles had around 24,000 and the Russian Buran had 38,000. However, both the Americans and the Russians have been looking into the possibility of a metal Thermal Protection System, which would have either been in one piece or would have consisted of overlapping panels that slid over each other with the heat of reentry. The present rate of technological progress in spaceflight means that a metal TPS will take quite a while to arrive, but the idea has been around for a long time. Nothing irrational or ridiculous about the one-piece heat shield we see.
3. The final statement you made is a good point. The Space Shuttle TPS consists of tiles that are 90 percent air, and those tiles withstand both high temperatures and dissipate heat very fast. You can put a blowtorch to those tiles and hold them in an ungloved hand ten seconds later (their interiors will still be glowing red, but the exteriors will be cool enough to hold). A metal TPS should be able to dissipate heat very fast and retain its integrity better than a TPS made of tiles. However, like you said, it won't be of any use against Ramiel's nuclear-powered death ray. The plasma during atmospheric reentry is a consequence of ram, or compression heating, and is spread evenly over the entire surface instead of being concentrated at a point. And judging from what Ramiel did to Eva-01's chest, using that SSTO heatshield really is nonsensical. It'd work, but it'd be a lot less effective than shown, practically speaking.
It's worse in Rebuild. That "Enchanted Shield of Virtue" in 1.0 is plain ridiculous...even if Ramiel's mountain-melting beam took its own time getting through it, how come the heat bouncing off the shield didn't cause Eva-00 to sink into a stream of lava? Both Evas should have been drowning in lava, by rights!
