[tubebender]

brought up the issue of the explosives in the MLG bay about 200 posts ago. However, we have yet to hear anything from the press conferences on the temp limits for the MLG explosives. I'm wondering if those temp limits were surpassed over California (creating those temporary brightenings of the orbiter's magnitude as visualized by astronomers).

I'm 12 hours behind so this may have been answered. On day one Dittemore said the temps they had over Ca were not enough to trigger the pyros. Of course that was early assessment.

[bonesmccoy]

temps over California - yes
temps over New Mexico might be a different story.

Some of us think that the MLG door was compromised over New Mexico. The leaking plasma would create overheating. One question is if the plasma is so hot that it melts the pyros before the reaction can really start.

I suppose NASA may need to do evaluations on the maximum temp limits and behavior of the pyros.