[wcbtinman]

"The ultimate question is why did the ship begin to roll?"

Those in govt, and without, who were quick to dismiss terrorism as a cause of this tragedy should think about the possibility of someone interferring with the telemetry and data links to the shuttle.

A long time ago I had a discussion with a gentleman who was involved in the early shuttle computer systems and telemetry setups. He indicated that there were ways to purposely interfere with data transmissions just like someone can hack a computer over the internet. Not very easy to do, but absolutely possible. I'm trying to find this guy so that I can see if he still feels this way.

With so many people and so many firms involved with various aspects of the computer systems on the shuttle, it would not entirely surprise me if it is found that the shuttle computer software, and/or the data links were compromised.

The angle of attack and direction are very critical for re-entry into the atmosphere, and it would only take a momentary glitch to cause the catastrophe seen in Columbia.

[One Sided Media]

There is always a possibility of some type of heretofore unknown sabotage.

My sense though, and this assumes that NASA is not being disingenuous, is that their telemetry did not show a sudden breakdown in control, which is what I would assume would occur if there had been interference from an external source. It seems as if control was gradually being lost, as if the inertial control system's attempt to correct the left wing from dipping slipped away. If I am right, I'm willing to bet that the readings that NASA reports over the next few news conferences will describe a slow and smooth rolling over of the shuttle with the temperature spikes growing in intensity along the top of the wing structure and fuselage. NASA should be able to correlate the temperature of the top of the shuttle to where the shuttle is in the videos and identify the point where the heat build up breaches the structure's ability to withstand it, resulting in the explosion.