Posted on 07/28/2005 8:57:02 AM PDT by InvisibleChurch
Thursday, July 28, 2005 9:27 a.m. EDT Shuttle Foam Loss Linked to EPA Regs
As recently as last month, NASA had been warned that foam insulation on the space shuttle's external fuel tank could sheer off as it did in the 2003 Columbia disaster - a problem that has plagued space shuttle flights since NASA switched to a non-Freon-based type of foam insulation to comply with Clinton Administration Environmental Protection Agency regulations.
"Despite exhaustive work and considerable progress over the past 2-1/2 years, NASA has been unable to eliminate the possibility of dangerous pieces of foam and ice from breaking off the external fuel tank and striking the shuttle at liftoff," the agency's Return-to-Flight Task Force said just last month, according to the Associated Press. But instead of returning the much safer, politically incorrect, Freon-based foam for Discovery's launch, the space agency tinkered with the application process, changing "the way the foam was applied to reduce the size and number of air pockets," according to Newsday.
"NASA chose to stick with non-Freon-based foam insulation on the booster rockets, despite evidence that this type of foam causes up to 11 times as much damage to thermal tiles as the older, freon-based foam," warned space expert Robert Garmong just nine months ago.
In fact, though NASA never acknowledged that its environmentally friendly, more brittle foam had anything to do with the foam sheering problem, the link had been well documented within weeks of the Columbia disaster.
In Feb. 2003, for instance, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported:
"NASA engineers have known for at least five years that insulating foam could peel off the space shuttle's external fuel tanks and damage the vital heat-protecting tiles that the space agency says were the likely 'root cause' of Saturday's shuttle disaster."
In a 1997 report, NASA mechanical systems engineer Greg Katnik "noted that the 1997 mission, STS-87, was the first to use a new method of 'foaming' the tanks, one designed to address NASA's goal of using environmentally friendly products. The shift came as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was ordering many industries to phase out the use of Freon, an aerosol propellant linked to ozone depletion and global warming," the Inquirer said.
Before the environmentally friendly new insulation was used, about 40 of the spacecraft's 26,000 ceramic tiles would sustain damage in missions. However, Katnik reported that NASA engineers found 308 "hits" to Columbia after a 1997 flight.
A "massive material loss on the side of the external tank" caused much of the damage, Katnik wrote in an article in Space Team Online.
He called the damage "significant." One hundred thirty-two hits were bigger than 1 inch in diameter, and some slashes were as long as 15 inches.
"As recently as last September [2002], a retired engineering manager for Lockheed Martin, the contractor that assembles the tanks, told a conference in New Orleans that developing a new foam to meet environmental standards had 'been much more difficult than anticipated,'" the Inquirer said.
The engineer, who helped design the thermal protection system, said that switching from the Freon foam "resulted in unanticipated program impacts, such as foam loss during flight."
I for one am sorry about your sacrifice. It is just wrong but unfortunately the standard.
Thanks Hippies
Wow. All these posts... and not a single one (that I saw) pointed out the fact that Columbia used the *OLD* foam.
See:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1453018/posts#28
It's going to remain nearly impossible to avoid some damage to the ship as long as they attach it to the side of the fuel tank rather than above it.
Clinton Legacy
ping
"The propellant mixture in each SRB motor consists of an (Click link for more info and facts about ammonium perchlorate) ammonium perchlorate ( (A substance that oxidizes another substance) oxidizer, 69.6 percent by weight), (A silvery ductile metallic element found primarily in bauxite) aluminum ( (A substance that can be consumed to produce energy) fuel, 16 percent), (Click link for more info and facts about iron oxide) iron oxide (a ((chemistry) a substance that initiates or accelerates a chemical reaction without itself being affected) catalyst, 0.4 percent), a (A naturally occurring or synthetic compound consisting of large molecules made up of a linked series of repeated simple monomers) polymer (a binder that holds the mixture together, 12.04 percent), and an (A thermosetting resin; used chiefly in strong adhesives and coatings and laminates) epoxy curing agent (1.96 percent).
"The propellant is an 11-point ((astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior) star-shaped perforation in the forward motor segment and a double-truncated- (Cone-shaped mass of ovule- or spore-bearing scales or bracts) cone perforation in each of the aft segments and aft closure.
"This configuration provides high thrust at ignition and then reduces the thrust by approximately a third 50 seconds after lift-off to prevent overstressing the vehicle during maximum dynamic pressure.
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/s/sp/space_shuttle_solid_rocket_booster.htm
"Ammonium perchlorate is an inorganic salt used in solid rocket fuel, in
munitions and in the pyrotechnics industry. Perchlorate manufacturers
estimate that approximately 90% of perchlorate is used for solid rocket
fuel. Ammonium perchlorate dissolves as easily as table salt, and the
resulting anion is stable and can persist for decades in the
environment, and moves easily through both groundwater and surface
water. Perchlorate has been detected in 110 public water supply wells
in California from at least 14 distinct sources, in the Colorado River
from sources in Nevada, and in surface or groundwater in Utah, Texas,
New York, Maryland, and Arkansas."
http://www.cpeo.org/lists/military/1998/msg00301.html
An outer wall need not be pressure tight -- all it need be is enough to keep the foam inside from shedding away during launch.
Don't know if you're following this.
> Clinton Legacy
Actually, "Nixon Legacy."
Don't let the facts get in the way of a good rant. NASA has said previously it was aware of four flights since 1983 where foam broke off the shuttle fuel tanks in precisely the same place that it broke off during the Columbia launch, including a 10-day mission to the International Space Station by Atlantis that began Oct. 7, 2002.
But "EPA kills" sounds so much better than "freon-free foam works exactly the same as freon-based foam -- both fall off in chunks."
But we can't go against idiotic EPANazi rules. A bug might die if we do.
bttt
bump
no - it is horrendously toxic.
so, yes: the ecofriendliness of the new foam amounts to less than a drop in the bucket per launch.
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