NASA grounds shuttle fleet
Seems there is still a problem with the foam debris falling off the shuttle.
NASA officials said today it would ground future space shuttle flights because foam debris that brought down Columbia is still a risk.
A sizable chunk of foam insulation that came flying off the shuttle Discovery’s fuel tank during Tuesday’s liftoff did not hit the orbiter and does not pose a risk to the seven astronauts.
But it is a problem NASA thought had been fixed, and represents a tremendous setback to a space program that has spent 2½ years trying to rise from the ashes of Columbia.
Here is what I think. Foam debris has always been a problem. The first flight shed foam debris on take-off. The second flight shed foam debris on take-off. Every subsequent flight shed foam debris on take-off. No one was ever aware of the problem until a piece of foam debris knocked a small hole in the orbiter’s outer protective coating causing the thing to burn on reentry.
The force required to lift that much weight into the air and accelerate it to 15,000 mph is tremendous. Of course stuff falls off it all the time. Any owner of a Harley-Davidson will immediately understand this.
Maybe NASA should look at lubricants or superconductivity instead of shielding as the primary method of protecting the shuttle from heat on reentry.