[Gary Boldwater]

The "Russian pencil tip" may break off and lodge in electronic gear, shorting it. It also gives off a conductive graphite dust, the same stuff the military uses in bombs to short out power plants.

[hopespringseternal]

The "Russian pencil tip" may break off and lodge in electronic gear, shorting it.

Uh, since the anecdote is fictional to begin with, the details are irrelevent.

But if you have to go down that road, it would be a lot smarter to proof your equipment against conductive flotsam than try to police it.

It is amazing that NASA must reinvent every last detail every time they do anything, yet blithely assume that a major change like foam suddenly falling off the ET or O-ring burn through isn't worth investigating.