If this shuttle burns up on re-entry fire NASA executives and charge them with murder. How hard would it be to send them out to put that goo stuff in the hole? I know EVA’s are dangerous..but so is a ship coming in with damaged heat tiles.
I am sure they have agonized and perhaps gone toe to toe in coming to this decision.
We have an opportunity to provide an additional level of confidence by putting some epoxy on it,, the main concern is that were they to actually cause more damage by accidentally hitting some other tiles, they could actually make it worse... the teacher is running the arm or is one of the main operators, If I am not mistaken.
The location is not in an area that will be subjected to as much heat in the areodynamic flow as it is on some spots on the shuttle on re-entry.
Touch call.
They are on an aggressive launch program, having this thing offline for repairs either way is bad enough, that’s why they get paid the big bucks.
This all started right after they quit using the politically incorrect freon to apply the foam on the external tank. Their inability to go back to that method (political correctness) is going to shut them down, but not until they kill a few more.
Nonsense. Do you really think they don't care if another shuttle burns up? Piffle. How hard would it be to send them out to put that goo stuff in the hole? I know EVA’s are dangerous..but so is a ship coming in with damaged heat tiles.
Actually, it does seem to be pretty hard. The fix goo they have is essentially an emergency remedy when there is no alternative. Even a small risk of accidentally gouging other more critical tiles is a sensible calculation to make.