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Shuttle Foam Test Yields Hole in Wing (Produces vs Yields)
AP ^ | 07/07/2003 | MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer

Posted on 07/07/2003 1:10:51 PM PDT by DoughtyOne

Science - AP

Shuttle Foam Test Yields Hole in Wing

59 minutes ago

By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer

SAN ANTONIO - The team investigating the Columbia disaster fired a chunk of foam insulation at shuttle wing parts Monday and blew open a gaping 2-foot hole, offering dramatic evidence to support the theory of what doomed the spaceship.

The crowd of about 100 gasped and cried, "Wow!" when the foam hit.

The foam struck roughly the same spot where insulation that broke off Columbia's big external fuel tank during launch smashed into the shuttle's wing. Investigators believe the damage led to the ship's destruction during re-entry over Texas in February, killing all seven astronauts.

It was the seventh and final foam-impact test by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, and it yielded by far the most severe damage.

The 1.67-pound piece of fuel tank foam insulation shot out of a 35-foot nitrogen-pressurized gun and slammed into a carbon-reinforced panel removed from shuttle Atlantis.

The countdown boomed through loudspeakers, and the crack of the foam coming out at more than 500 mph reverberated in the field where the test was conducted.

Twelve high-speed cameras — six inside the wing mock-up and six outside — captured the event. Hundreds of sensors registered movements, stresses and other conditions.

NASA (news - web sites) will continue gathering more information about the poorly understood pieces that line the vulnerable leading edges of shuttle wings, board member Scott Hubbard said.

One month ago, another carbon shuttle wing panel — smaller and farther inboard — was cracked by the impact, in addition to an adjoining seal. This time, the entire 11 1/2-inch width of the foam chunk — rather than just a corner during previous tests — hit the wing, putting maximum stress on the suspect area.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Extended News; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: caib; foam; hole; shuttle; test
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To: Carry_Okie; All
In all fairness, Thiokol engineers warned NASA not to fly.

I don't understand how this test and results would have not had a MAJOR aerodynamic effect on the orbiter on accent. You think the orbiter would have flown 17K MPH with a 16" hole in its wing without blowing apart before reaching space? BS!

61 posted on 07/07/2003 8:58:16 PM PDT by Normal4me
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To: Darksheare
I believe that the story was actually the British and they were testing the Chunnel train locomotive windshield. Other that that, the story is correct. They did not thaw the chicken first.
62 posted on 07/07/2003 9:12:52 PM PDT by american_ranger
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To: wideminded
I'm curious about this gun. Doesn't the piece of foam need to be shaped to fit the barrel ... or not?

It does, but this "gun" has a square or at least rectangular bore. That is one of it's changeable barrels has a none circular bore. It is a smooth bore, so the "projectile" need not rotate. Plus it uses a sabot and a stripper to "hold" the sabot. The sabot provides the seal to the barrel as the nitrogen gas pushes it and the payload down the barrel, but it then stripped off from the payload, so that only the payload hits the "target".

63 posted on 07/07/2003 9:19:03 PM PDT by El Gato
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To: wideminded
I'm curious about this gun. Doesn't the piece of foam need to be shaped to fit the barrel ... or not?

It does, but this "gun" has a square or at least rectangular bore. That is one of it's changeable barrels has a none circular bore. It is a smooth bore, so the "projectile" need not rotate. Plus it uses a sabot and a stripper to "hold" the sabot. The sabot provides the seal to the barrel as the nitrogen gas pushes it and the payload down the barrel, but it then stripped off from the payload, so that only the payload hits the "target".

64 posted on 07/07/2003 9:19:03 PM PDT by El Gato
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To: Normal4me
In all fairness, Thiokol engineers warned NASA not to fly.

Thiokol management was another matter.

You think the orbiter would have flown 17K MPH with a 16" hole in its wing without blowing apart before reaching space? BS!

Correct. There's no telling how many different combinations of strike location and attitude of the impacting foam object there might be. Each might result in a different degree of damage. Perhaps that's one reason that the problem has taken so long to manifest.

65 posted on 07/07/2003 9:21:21 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (There are people in power who are truly evil.)
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To: DoughtyOne
Video of foam test.

HOLY SHIITE!

66 posted on 07/07/2003 9:22:09 PM PDT by El Gato
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To: Sonar5
"This event is significant because the pattern of damage on this flight was similar to STS-87 but to a much lesser degree. The reason for the change in the type of foam is due to the desire of NASA to use 'environmentally friendly' materials in the space program. Freon was used in the production of the previous foam. This method was eliminated in favor of foam that did not require freon for its production. MSFC is investigating the consideration that some characteristics of the new foam may not be known for the ascent environment."

That quote was from your original post on 2/4/03.

My question: will the freon be put back into the foam before the next mission?

67 posted on 07/07/2003 9:23:28 PM PDT by The Westerner
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To: justlurking
At least one "fact" is wrong in the snopes article:

The chicken gun (also known as the chicken cannon, turkey gun, or rooster booster) has been around since 1972.

Such bird guns have been around longer than that. In 1973 or '74 when I was in the Air Force. I was first told a related story about the use of one at, IIRC, Lockheed with the actual event taking place quite a few years earlier. That story, by an engineer who had seen the high speed films, was from the days when they used live, but sedated, chickens. The story went that the chicken in question woke up before being fired, and could be seen "putting on the brakes", with wings out and cupped forward, in an apparent attempt to stop before hitting the windscreen. Even the guy who told me the story thought that the bird's wings and body were probably just responding to mechanical forces, there being too little time for it to actually react to what was going on.

68 posted on 07/07/2003 9:36:55 PM PDT by El Gato
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To: DoughtyOne
please ask a specific question.

surely you know the TPS (thermal protection system) is made up of various types of materials, RCC, tiles, and blankets.

surely you have seen the first video of underside and the the impact as it occured, not just the popular video looking from the dorsal side of the orbiter at the foam dropping under the wing, then reappearing in snowflakes at the bottom.
69 posted on 07/07/2003 9:38:16 PM PDT by XBob
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To: XBob
surely you have seen the first video of underside and the the impact as it occured,

I haven't seen that one. Do you have a link?

70 posted on 07/07/2003 9:53:05 PM PDT by El Gato
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To: DoughtyOne; Budge; bonesmccoy
look at our 3000+ comment thread,

Observation on TPS damage on Orbiter

and look at budge's image files:

Budge's image files


71 posted on 07/07/2003 10:18:09 PM PDT by XBob
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To: El Gato
70 - follow the links in 71, to "Observation on TPS damage", somewhere buried in there in the first 500 posts is the link, posted numbers of times. I think it is on a NASA 'manned spaceflight' program website.

I downloaded it, and still review it regularly, but I neglected to get the link address, unfortunately. But it is/was there.
72 posted on 07/07/2003 10:33:32 PM PDT by XBob
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To: El Gato; DoughtyOne
the name of the 1mb file I have is "ET208Mag.mpeg", and I downloaded it on 5 Feb.
73 posted on 07/07/2003 10:43:28 PM PDT by XBob
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To: El Gato; DoughtyOne
found it.

goto

http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/shuttle/countdown/sts107/vidtoc-b.htm

and there are 3 clips:

External Tank Debris Footage
Clip 1, Clip 2, Clip 3
74 posted on 07/07/2003 11:22:33 PM PDT by XBob
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To: El Gato
Yes, pretty interesting.
75 posted on 07/07/2003 11:24:28 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Brother, has your faith lapsed. Renew your conservatism today!)
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To: XBob
This test seems to have created a hit on the top side of the wing. As such it appears to have created damage, but the actual hit wasn't located there.

If this is the bottom, and I've lost perspective, then the strike doesn't mean as much to me because there are no tiles.

Either way I'm not convinced this test shows particular meaning.

I don't have any questions. These are my thoughts on the test. If you think these thoughts are faulty, I don't mind. I'm just not sure you addressed these perspectives in the comments you made to me.

And no, I'm not trying to give you a hard time.

I had seen the initial shots on the page you linked. Af for Budge's graphics, they wouldn't load for me. The site seemed busy.
76 posted on 07/07/2003 11:33:14 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Brother, has your faith lapsed. Renew your conservatism today!)
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To: XBob
Thank you for the link to the three videos. The view from the left rear, that was just over the plane of the wing was the clearest shot I'd seen of the strike.
77 posted on 07/07/2003 11:43:38 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Brother, has your faith lapsed. Renew your conservatism today!)
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To: snopercod
Wait a minute you guys. It was bonesmccoy and XBob (as well as many others) that had this nailed from the first.

Thanks, snopercod, that really was/is an epic thread.

I think FReepers had the disaster nailed from the first, and the research that went into that thread is incredible.

78 posted on 07/08/2003 2:33:29 AM PDT by Budge (God Bless FReepers!)
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To: DoughtyOne
Wow, insightful post, thanks.
79 posted on 07/08/2003 3:01:30 AM PDT by exnavy
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To: DoughtyOne
76 - D1, I have noticed the site with my pics will get slow, especially with a lot of hits. I hope you'll keep trying because there are a lot of pics and graphs that may be difficult to find now, and may be useful to you.

If this is the bottom, and I've lost perspective, then the strike doesn't mean as much to me because there are no tiles.

If you are refering to this most recent test video/pics of the hit, there are no tiles on the leading edge of the wing.

NASA was testing a hit on this portion of the wing which is Reinforced Carbon Carbon. The RCC is so impervious to heat that tiles would do nothing to protect it, only add un-needed weight.

80 posted on 07/08/2003 3:07:28 AM PDT by Budge (God Bless FReepers!)
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