BBC: Foam 'Might Have Struck Shuttle'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4726543.stm

Foam 'might have struck shuttle'

Nasa officials have said they now believe at least one shard of protective foam might have hit a wing of the Discovery space shuttle. But they said they were confident the craft would make a safe return.

Nasa deputy programme manager Wayne Hale said new photographic evidence appeared to suggest an impact with one of the wings. But he stressed there was a "divergence of opinion" at Nasa on whether the foam had actually made contact.

"There are 11 indications of potential impacts," said Steve Poulos, manager of the orbiter project office.

"We might have four areas of the wing leading edge where there might have been an impact."

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I just hope they complete their mission and are able to return home in tact.

Good grief, it is shocking and unimaginable that NASA could not have resolved this issue before another orbiter was sent up. And now, this?? >hangs head in disbelief<

He said that the part that we've seen come off the external tank was in an area that wasn't examined and redesigned.

Huh...just like they didn't think the foam was a problem before Columbia. What's with these guys?

the foam reassessment/redesign project.:sarcasm:

When I read that figure last night, I wanted to :puke:!!

Hmm, I wonder if some subsidiary of Halliburton makes foam?? That would explain why $1B somehow wasn't enough to get the job done.

edited to add link for the $1B figure in case someone thinks I'm making it up:

"Preventing the insulating foam from shedding off the fuel tank has been the primary focus of NASA's $1 billion safety upgrade program following the Columbia accident, which was caused by a chunk of foam that hit the ship's left wing shortly after liftoff...."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050729/us_nm/space_shuttle_dc_56

Considering that after all that money, the foam still came off, and now they are saying it could have hit the wing.

NASA did 15 extensive upgrades to the shuttle.

If they claim that the foam was their primary focus, yet out of $1B they only spent $130M on the foam, where in the heck did the rest of the money go? Criminy. Sounds like that missing chunk of cash in Iraq. Money just seems to magically disappear with a deftness that would make Harry Blackstone jealous.

Who got their palms greased on the foam? Nothing would surprise me--

Why is it that when NASA wasn't full of Cheney and bush cronies running the show that these shuttles managed to have the foam glued on with something that actually worked?

Is there ANYTHING this admin can't fuck up? Seriously-one wonders!

...after I was accused of being an alarmist:

The video of the foam piece striking the shuttle wing was shown the day of the launch. (See here: http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/02/01/shuttle.columb... /) I remember quite CLEARLY watching it the day of the launch, and then hearing NASA officials saying it was not worth a space walk to check on and wondering what the hell they were talking about. Whether it was identified as foam or not the day of the launch is beside the point. It was clearly hitting the wing and was a serious issue. Why do I feel so confident that I was right in my assessment of the situation the day of the launch two years ago and NASA officials were wrong? BECAUSE THE FREAKING SHUTTLE DISINTEGRATED on re-entry.

They repeatedly BEFORE the re-entry resisted implications of the threat posed by the piece seen hitting the wing and then after the re-entry CONTINUED to do it until finally all the evidence showed that THAT was most likely the cause.

- snip -

I did not say that the foam hit the shuttle this time, as I pointed out in my second post. I was addressing the idea of officials being the be-all end-all of authority especially when we've seen this before: political pressure/concerns and group-think mindset affecting safety issues and public relations pronouncements - the same social phenomenon that destroyed TWO space shuttles.

space shuttle disaster in 2003 hit the same area of the wings on the Discovery this time, or at least close to it.

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/investigations/q0131.shtml

It took some of the heat off of Karl. NASA knew they still had a problem, and I bet the word came down from on high to launch it anyway. I hope that this comes out in the impeachment trial....

under the pressure from the WH. Our government has been completely corrupted. I can only imagine what it is like to have to work for bosses who are pro-loony ideology and anti-science and empirical prudence.

The WH needed this launch.

Everything that happens that doesn't involve Karl Rove is a diversion, and the gullible masses should be whipped for paying atention to such things instead of what we want 'em to. :eyes:

I don't want you to miss my "I told you so!" There's nothing these evil motherfuckers would not do.

just a tiny bit worse every day? It's like telling your kid the dog died. Day 1: Timmy, Lassie's tired. Day 2: Timmy, Lassie has a tummy ache. Day 3: Timmy, Lassie's going to see the doctor. By Day 6, when Lassie doesn't appear, even dim-witted Timmy can figure it out.

At first, weren't they saying only small fragment of tile came off?
And whatever came off the tank didn't stuck anything?
Now, foam struck the wing, the same as on Discovery?

That made me laugh out loud!

And lets not forget, its just a little foam... on yeah, traveling at a gazillion miles an hour.

.... has become a perfect reflection of America.

you mean a debt riddled, middle ager, once filled with great promise, trying desperately to get by on 20 year old things and pretending that the opportunity wasn't wasted? We actually think the combover is fooling people.

i like it.

.... what I had in mind, but that works too :)

No, it's not a problem.

Well, it MIGHT be a problem.

Hmm, it appears to be a problem.

NASA, we have a problem.

:headbang:
rocknation

don't know how improbable this would be, but why not encase the entire external tank in a lightweight, but incredibly strong, fishnet style net.....it seems like that would keep the foam attached to the tank during liftoff. what do you think?

gret minds think alike you know.

Seriously.. Nylon is strong stuff.

IMO they should rethink the tile system for reentry, it's much too fragile and hokey. They need to use silica aerogel.


http://eetd.lbl.gov/ECS/Aerogels/satoc.htm

God forbid anything goes wrong.

one had written "the President" and advised that only 4 astronauts go up so that the Russians could rescue; I think he said that Russia had also advised this.

Let's see, the Government sends out some people to a dangerous environment without proper equipment. Their vehicle may not be adequate to protect them. Their mission provides a good diversion from domestic political problems. Space, Iraq...

As in who gives a crap about the everyday crap that NASA has to deal with? Was a piece of foam really jeopardizing the shuttle; I doubt it extremely.

Gyre

A: Ask the crew of Shuttle Columbia. Oops, that might be a bit difficult, ya know. But no worries, it's just a piece of foam.

mikey_the_rat

if they were jeapoardized by things falling from them if they hadn't blown up.

:headbang:
rocknation

And then NASA spent a billion bucks and a couple of years "solving" the problem.

That NASA continues to unnecessarily risk lives and squander money on the outdated, delicate, boondoggle called the space shuttle is outrageous. If they are intent on continuing to send people into space (for what end, I don't know) they need to go back to something simple like a capsule. We never loast any capsules, did we?

...astronauts. But yes, I do get your point that we need to upgrade the delivery system.

If they'd found cracks in the wings, THEY WOULD'VE FUCKING SAID THEY FOUND CRACKS!

Jesus! H! Christ! Calm the fuck down and let the engineers do the work!

they've been so reliable

Or are they being doctored? :eyes:

The engineers had been warning NASA management for years about the o-rings. Management choose to ignore the warnings and made a "management decision" to launch in spite of warnings (not only in general but also specifically wrt the low temperatures during the time of the launch). Same thing with the foam - twice now. In the mean time many of NASA's engineers have been fired.

Now, lets discuss the reliability of managers.

This is not a good thing to have happen at this point in time. I'm sure someone is feeling some pain about now.