The whole fuel tank fiasco could be solved by a simple call to D.C. asking the President to sign authorization for NASA to return to the old foam formulation. Maybe this time they can get the foam colored white like it's supposed to be.
What is preventing this?
The white color came from a paint/sealant that was applied on top of the foam. However, that paint weighted about a ton and was withheld to increase shuttle payload.
What made it white in the early missions was paint, which weighed (IIRC) a couple of thousand pounds. They stopped painting the tanks to increase payload capacity. The insulation itself has always been that orange/brown color. Painting the tanks wouldn't prevent foam from breaking off.
NFP
Maybe this time they can get the foam colored white like it's supposed to be.
Bill Clinton signed an executive order that allowed the military to burn some pretty nasty toxic waste in open pits at area 51 or Groom lake depending on what you want to call it.
No I'm not a conspiracy theorist, if I could remember the number on the order I would show it to you.
Chances are good that the knowledge of how to do the original process has been lost. The formula and how to mix it up and how to spray it on are likely also somewhat dependent on the person making it who is probably gone too.
As for going against the environmental regulations, this would never have needed anything as high as the President. The project manager or director would simply have to be convinced that nothing using "approved" chemicals would meet the engineering requirements. Part of the problem here is they likely did not investigate the original material to know exactly what stress it would have to face, and what margin of safety could be allowed. Thus they made something that worked, may not have understood it fully, and so when they couldn't make it anymore they accepted that the new process would also work. When it did not, they may have tweeked it a little, but since it is also up to the subjective technique of the applier, they probably considered the process to be variable and you get what you get. That is until it turned out to be a killer.
Let's see... tanks connect to shuttle. Form facing shuttle not tested. Foam at furthest point of tanks tested.. something here smells wrong.BTW, does color of foam really matter?
You are Correct, return to the Freon Based foam that worked Excellently. This is not the time to be Environmentally Correct, the Original Foam worked Perfectly because it was and is less brittle.This new stuff they have been trying to make work since 1998 a product of the Clinton/Gore dogma.Lets have it changed back to the original specifications NOW!
How would the liberals have reacted?