[bvw]

Have you been able to clock the motion? To some limited degree we can gauge the loss of energy by the foam (or ice or icy foam) by looking at how much speed it lost after impact on the wing. It's been said that NASA averaged 17 high speed frames (96 f/sec?) into one MPEG frame, so as enhance the image.

If they made the high speed frames public, that would even more helpful -- a full velocity characteristic, accelerations.

[XBob]

very good idea, however, beyond me and my software capabilities.

I have given the links, perhaps you/your equipment can give us an estimate.

I have seen many different shuttle 'speeds' at the point the 'insulation' came off, varying from a few hundred mph to about 1800, and also varying 'mach' speeds, which vary with altitude, so that way, I haven't got a clue, except that at 80 seconds into the mission, SRB separtion is at about 2 minutes, and not very far away, so it is going pretty fast and is pretty high. MECO (main engine cut off) is somewhere around 6-8 minutes.