Posted on 02/01/2003 5:50:13 PM PST by hope
'Major Systems Failure' Indicated">
'Major Systems Failure' Indicated
By Susan Jones and Scott Hogenson
CNSNews.com Staff
February 01, 2003
(CNSNews.com) - A senior government official says NASA's data shows a "major systems failure," CBS News reported Saturday afternoon.
Videotape showed a large piece of something coming off the orbiter immediately prior to its mid-air breakup over Texas Saturday morning. NASA reportedly is focusing on the space shuttle Columbia's left wing as the possible source of the catastrophic failure.
NASA said there is no indication that the breakup was caused by anything or anyone on the ground.
However, press reports noted that during the launch of the space shuttle Columbia 16 days ago, a piece of insulation came loose and appeared to hit the left wing of the shuttle. It's not clear what the extent of the damage may have been, if there was any damage at all.
Temperature stress on the shuttle is highest during the re-entry period. It was on re-entry that Mission Control lost communications with Columbia.
Space shuttles are protected from the heat of re-entry by an intricate system of heat tiles, according to Robert G. Melton, a professor of aerospace engineering at Pennsylvania State University.
According to Melton's research, "shuttle orbiters use a system of 30,000 tiles made of a silica compound that does not ablate, but does rapidly radiate heat away from the orbiter. These tiles can be repaired in space."
Melton's research notes that the "major disadvantages are fragility," among the heat tiles, which are "easily damaged before launch and by orbital debris; lots of tile damage due to debris since anti-satellite tests in mid-80s.
Another shortcoming of the tiles, according to Melton's research, is their complexity and the fact that "many people (are) needed to manually attach tiles to orbiter in a tedious and time-consuming process, and to inspect them all before launch."
Melton's research indicates that during the re-entry period, maximum temperatures are recorded at an altitude of 40 miles with a speed of 15,000 miles per hour.
It is also during this time that communications are routinely disrupted because of ionization, which is caused by the high temperatures and "creates an impenetrable barrier to radio signals," according to Melton's research.
According to NASA, contact with Columbia was lost when the shuttle was flying at roughly 200,000 feet at a speed of more than 12,000 miles per hour.
I have been wondering if the two fairly substantial pieces of debris with their own contrails, following somewhat behind the main body of the shuttle -- as is clearly visible in the early portions of several of the videos -- might possibly be the two wings? Their location behind and on either side of the shuttle would seem to be just where you would would expect detached wings to be.
This doesn't make sense. When the astronauts go outside for spacewalks, couldn't they inspect the tiles?
I don't think the above statement is correct (from the original article).
The shuttle is facing south, with it's left side being the leading edge along it's flight path.
There were a few frames where the camera tried to zoom in close and there appeared to be forms suggestive of a shuttle but traveling transverse to the flight path, i.e., left side reentering forward. Then the camera zoomed back creating a smaller image. My first thought was that the auto-focus lost the image causing it to "bloom" large, so the photographer backed off to recover focus. The problem was that the image was not right for an out of focus image, it should have been circular but it included some elements of the wedge planform. I discounted what I saw because it meant that the Shuttle would have to have been going sideways! There did appear to be some shots where features of orbiter were discernible and I'm hoping somewhere we can find the breakup sequence.
This might have explained the left side instrumentation going bad first, except there was the last communication responding to Mission Control following their advisory on the left wheel pressure/temperture and the crew did not comment on their vehicle attitude.
- I'm going to have to go on record as saying that I saw *no* such features on *any* of the video clips that have been played on any of the Dallas stations today ... and boy, we've seen a number of them!
Using direct-broadcast TV signals here I might add - no sappy cable system to 'adulterate' the signal between me and the RF signals emanating from "Cedar Hill" (where the majority of the commercial broadcasters have their transmitters here in Del Norte Tejas).
Wow, cool, I never thought of linking the scrolling text! This makes it easy! I WILL BE VINDICATED:
Display this text: "TURNS TO WHITE HOUSE FROM CAMP DAVID TO MONITOR SPACE SHUT"
Shuttle w/hole, broken off tail w/rudder markings visible perpendicular to camera. That's it!
Could be ... or the shuttle's cargo bay doors ...
Cheers -- Alberta's Child
Well, think about muffaletaman's response, too, then. Or think about this...what would you expect to see when zooming in on a fireball at least 40 miles away? If you kept it in focus, you'd expect to see the trailing plume in greater detail, just like the rest of the scene. Wouldn't you?
Is that what you see here?
Now look at the "tail" image you see intermittently throughout the clip (which makes it look like it's rotating) -- can you see how this "tail" appears to have the same shape as the "cap" on the main image? I think the "tail" is a halo-like reflection of the main image.
This just in. The face of the devil was seen during breakup...
WFTR
Bill
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