NASA: Foam Probably Not Cause of Shuttle Disaster

Reuters ^ | 2/05/03

[kattracks]

Wed February 5, 2003 05:45 PM ET
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - NASA said on Wednesday a piece of debris that broke loose from the fuel tank shortly after the launch of space shuttle Columbia was likely not the cause of the shuttle's loss and the death of its crew.

The foam debris, about the size of a small suitcase, was captured on video breaking away from the shuttle's external fuel tank shortly after liftoff from Florida. The foam was seen vaporizing after it hit the underside of the orbiter.

NASA shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore, casting doubt on one of the leading theories on the cause of the shuttle's disintegration on Saturday over Texas, said the foam simply was not heavy enough or traveling fast enough to damage the shuttle's heat resistant tiles.

"We're focusing our attention on what we didn't see. We believe there was something else ... there's got to be another reason," Dittemore said during a briefing at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Dittemore also said the shuttle's management team did not believe there was any ice under the foam that might have contributed to damage, another theory that had been offered as the root cause of the destruction of NASA's oldest space shuttle and the deaths of the seven astronauts as they returned from a 16-day science mission in space.

[okie01]

"Anything that hits you at 200-500 mph, isn't going to hit you like a grasshopper on a winshield."

At that point in the launch, the shuttle may have been going 500 mph. But so were the boosters.

Consequently, wouldn't the relative speed at impact have been more like 20 mph-or-so?

[Diddle E. Squat]

What stinks is so many armchair quarterbacking Freepers taking any scrap of info from less than perfect news services and declaring that the folks at NASA are either incompetent, stupid, lazy, lacking common sense, unprofessional, missed the obvious, liars, scheming beauracrats, conspirators, or any combination of the above. It is one thing to ask questions, speculate, and seek insight, but quite another to imply or state nefarous allegations at every new bit of info.

Ever consider that perhaps those damaged tiles were not of themselves enough of a weakness to cause the accident? If so, then those falling debris didn't cause the accident. I'm not arguing one way or another, but am a bit irritated at so many jumping to accusatory conclusions and so easily assuming that the large staff of dedicated NASA professionals are dolts. Hopefully you were not implying that, but too many posters have been.

[isthisnickcool]

I thought they were in sequence. I presumed they were. I don't work at NASA, but I know numerous people that do work there. The person I talked to said that the incident with the object hitting the SRB was 2 flights before STS-107. So, that would be STS-112? Correct? If yes, then it might make sense to see what video or images are available for that mission.

[DoughtyOne]

Look, I don't want to argue over this. It's not productive. I'm going with a higher estimate than that. I may be wrong, but I am not comfortable that in a 1500+ wind that debris could hold 100mph+/- (approximate) for that long. You folks may be correct as can be.

[cake_crumb]

EH?? All I said was it seems too early to rule the foam out.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Interesting point, or is it the opposite effect?

I'm now sorry that I only studied physics for a grade, not retention.

[HairOfTheDog]

What stinks is so many armchair quarterbacking Freepers taking any scrap of info from less than perfect news services and declaring that the folks at NASA are either incompetent, stupid, lazy, lacking common sense, unprofessional, missed the obvious, liars, scheming beauracrats, conspirators, or any combination of the above.

Yes, until I know otherwise, the "living" at NASA also have value, not just the dead. These are real people, not just entertainment for the conspiracy buffs. I don't like to see people destroyed by fingerpointing that is just speculation and kneejerking.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Yikes. Its like Senor Wences extrapolated.












Oh OK, I'll just go ahead and say it. Its like Senor Wences on crack.

[DoughtyOne]

I would agree with your impact attitude analysis. I am heartened to see the comments from Dettemore at least somewhere in the neighborhood of what I was thinking. It appears that he at least was considering the 250mph range if he doubled it to 500mph for hypothesis sake.

Here's something that I just thought of. Does this insulation float?

[Cold Heat]

Well, it's about time!

I am foamed flat out! I am beginning to believe the craft was holed by a meteorite or space debris or the left wheel well door dropped down due to improper latching or adjustment.

[John Jamieson]

Two things keep swimming in my mind about our 3 space disasters over 35 years now.

1. All occurred around late January (Apollo 7- Jan 27, 1967, Challenger-Jan 28, 1986, Columbia 2/1/2003). January is Florida’s coldest month. Most people do feel that cold weather was a contributing factor to Challenger. Could cold weather have also been a factor in the other two disasters?

2. Challenger and Columbia both involved Max Q, That period of time when air density times velocity squared is a maximum. Max Q at liftoff is T-plus 61 seconds, Challenger disintergrated at T-plus 73 seconds. The debris fell out Columbia a T-plus 82 seconds. Max Q during reentry is at mach 18.03, contact with the Columbia was lost at mach 18. Since Max Q is the highest aerodynamic load on the Shuttle, The problems are occurring right near the design limits of the vehicle, not just random failures.





Note: there was a made for TV movie called Max Q: An amazing adrenaline-pumping space adventure in the tradition of APOLLO 13, Max Q: Emergency Landing is another special effects-packed spectacular from the hit-making producer of ARMAGEDDON, THE ROCK and TOP GUN, Jerry Bruckheimer! When disaster strikes, a once routine Space Shuttle mission becomes NASA’s worst nightmare! A violent explosion has rocked the shuttle ENDERVOUR, leaving Commander Clay Jarvis (Bill Campbell - The Rocketeer, The Night We Never Met) and his crew (including Ned Vaughn - Apollo 13, Courage Under Fire - and Geoffrey Blake - Contact, Mighty Joe Young) floating perilously in space! With Mission Control unable to implement a feasible solution - and vital resources dwindling aboard the disabled spacecraft - the stranded astronauts face the ultimate test of skill, courage and determination in a heart-stopping bid to make it home alive!

[Cboldt]

I assumed they were in order too, but some other Freeper provided some real research, and a link to more useful data. There are many variables (duh), such as the existence of at least three different external tank designs, two different leading edge designs (Columbia has one design for carbon-carbon leading edge, the other orbiters are different in this regard), and a variety of changes made to address observations from previous flights.

BTW, I assume no need to correct my obvious typo (STS-107 more than two after STS-107, should have said more than two after STS-105!)

There is actually a lot of information out there. I have not tried to put it together in any sensible form.

[DoughtyOne]

I don't.

[John Jamieson]

Floats very well.

[Brett66]

I have the highest respect for most of the people working at NASA, but it's human nature to CYA when something like this happens. They did it in regards to Challenger and they could very well do it in this circumstance. This particular statement is probably an overstatement by a reporter, but we should be skeptical.

[justshe]

"...taking any scrap of info from less than perfect news services and declaring that the folks at NASA are either incompetent, stupid, lazy, lacking common sense, unprofessional, missed the obvious, liars, scheming beauracrats, conspirators, or any combination of the above."

You left out criminally negligent or guily of negligent homicide. I've seen those also, Diddle E.

[DoughtyOne]

No, I was trying to find the interview on the network cable channels, then found NASA TV on an unmarked cable channel late in the game.

[DoughtyOne]

Seems like it would be nice to find that debris.

[TLBSHOW]

It showed the shuttle being hit by what looked like a purple ray and they said it was an attack by China. He was banned and the picture was deleted.