Jesus. Go to bed already.

It's not nice to make fun of other people's questions. Really I don't think they could have, but I'm sure that it is something that they will look into.

I think someone needs a nap.

I doubt it. Reentry seemed to be normal, and NASA reported sensors going out on the left wing 7 minutes before it broke up.

Okay, you have my apology. Really, I sincerely mean that.

Despite the snipes, I think this is a valid question and WILL be looked into -- particularly since half the internet was stymied by some sort of hacking just days ago.

Forget the "Nay sayers"
(No Names Mentoined)
It Is a Valid Question!

It was the UFO that Saddam has. Made of tinfoil

Look, a computer that is not connected to the internet has no path a hacker could use
to get to it. It's impossible. Forget it.

Didn't mean a computer connected to the internet, vis a vis the shuttle; was just pointing out that digital sabotage is hardly an unthinkable concept.

One of the things that bothered me a little was when the media reports began stressing that "terrorism is not suspected -- the spacecraft was flying far beyond the range of any known missile -- no nation in the world has the means to do this from space -- etc."

If terrorism were a consideration, those would have been the last things I would have suspected. My first suspicion would relate to sabotage of some sort.

There is no remote access to the on-board computers from what I understand. The code on the machines cannot be modified except in specific ways that require hardware and hands-on access to the systems themselves. The code is very tightly controlled with numerous fail-safe techniques. Any modification to the code to instruct for something so radical to occur during re-entry would likely not have been allowed to be added to the code and found almost immediately. So, for example, a command to move control surfaces in a way that would be dangerous would likely setoff red flags.

Hopefully, that the way things worked.

Looks to me like there was some kind of failure that breached the tiles under the left wing. And once the wing was breached the heat cut the metal like a hot knife thru butter. As soon as the vehicle pitched at the loss of the wing that was it. At that speed and given the physical forces involved catastrophic failure occurred instantly.

And I actually meant my reply to all, not you in particular. But still, you have
to be able make input to the computer in question to be able to interfere with it.

A potential hacker just has no way to make input. Or do you mean someone inside NASA
with the right software priveleges sabotaged the code before liftoff?

Right now I would say you live up to your name. And I would say your suppositions are correct or a correct as we can know now and I was at KSC when it happened.

Ravenstar

IF it was sabotage by computer... why wait until re-entry? All seemed to be normal, until the last few minutes of flight. Wouldn't it be much more stunning to have it happen in space? Then, we could start the conspiracy ball rolling about the little men from Mars!

Since the likely culprit was the insulation that came off and hit the wing and tiles, how could the insulation just have come off on launch?

Well, when you consider the "modern world," who knows what can happen? My whole point was that it was a valid question asked in this dangerous time. FReegards.

I agree with you that this software terrorism idea is very unlikely, especially because the shuttle wasn't, of course, running on the internet. But I was reminded today by talk radio of the software firm in Massachusetts that did a lot of work for the Defense Department and other areas of the government, and was busted for being some sort of Islamist front.

Certainly, if there was a dangerous code switch, we (or at least, the authorities) will find it. But it's not impossible. Especially as, at 200,000 feet (and 12,000 MPH) the shuttle needs constant attitude control by computer; even a bug that just crashed a piece of software for a few seconds could cause the shuttle to break up. Complex software can be impossible to test fully except in a real use situation, and maybe a saboteur could put some loop in a program that would remain hidden until its one-time usefulness.

how could the insulation just have come off on launch?

Since the main fuel is liquid hydrogen, ice buildup is common on the tanks; the ice breaks off in chunks due to the vibration and/or wind early in the launch.