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Columbia tragedy curiosity...


Steff

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Guys.. wondering if anyone has any thoughts on the explinations on what they are saying "might" have happened..? I don't know too much about the way things work up there. Mostly my uncle just told me the "fun" stuff and nothing technical. Anyone have any insight into what might have caused the accident? :huh:

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Guys.. wondering if anyone has any thoughts on the explinations on what they are saying "might" have happened..? I don't know too much about the way things work up there. Mostly my uncle just told me the "fun" stuff and nothing technical. Anyone have any insight into what might have caused the accident? :huh:

I'm not an engineer but it seems that something caused the ship to lose it's heat shielding ability upon reentry into the earth's atmosphere. Degraded or missing heat shielding tiles is the current theory among the "experts."

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Guys.. wondering if anyone has any thoughts on the explinations on what they are saying "might" have happened..? I don't know too much about the way things work up there. Mostly my uncle just told me the "fun" stuff and nothing technical. Anyone have any insight into what might have caused the accident?   :huh:

I'm not an engineer but it seems that something caused the ship to lose it's heat shielding ability upon reentry into the earth's atmosphere. Degraded or missing heat shielding tiles is the current theory among the "experts."

OK.. I guess that's where it's a bit confusing because I've heard them reporting that on almost every mission they have lost tiles - sometimes many of them (my uncle confirms this as he has heard the same thing in the past). From what I'm gathering.. it's the fact that something (foam from the external gas tank?) hit the area where the landing gear is housed - which was an extremely vulnerable spot as it was hollow and not as reinforced as the rest of the wing - and compromised the intregity of that area.. which then got to hot from the inside inside.. which then caused the tiles to "burn" off from the inside out. Does that make any sense? Does anyone have any knowledge if this scenero is a possibility?

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I've been having trouble with links today. Let's see if this one works. Click on the story headlined "CMU prof leaning to tiles as cause of Columbia's disintegration." It's the best I've read or heard so far.

Excellent story. So it seems that it's not specifically that the tiles are damaged or lost.. but where those that are damaged or lost are located. That's kinda what I was getting. Obviously if the tiles damaged near the wheel well were damaged and that's a "crutial" area, it would definitely cause more of a concern and possibly add to a catastrophic disaster.

My uncle went to Houston yesterday and before that he's been "locked down" since Saturday. My cousin said he's due home tonight and although he can't really talk about what he knows.. maybe he can help us to understand the entire situation a little better. Thanks for the link SI1020.

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I remember them saying something about tire pressure rising just before the explosion, which would mean that it was getting hotter inside, which points to a missing tile.

 

The Tribune ran a story on the influx in temperature just prior to the explosion yesterday, I think (days kind of blend together for me sometimes).

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I was trying to listen to Art Bell Last Night (Well his new host) cause I figured they'd have some experts on the subject. I think they were talking abuot it, but I fell asleep by the time the commercial ended.

 

I'll try to stay up tonight. Usually they get some really good hosts on, especially under these circumstances.

 

Anyway, as far as the tiles go, I still can't figure out why they kept flying these things if the tiles falling off could do this. It was known that they fall off every launch, so it just seems to me they were waiting and knowing this would eventually happen.

 

They need to rebuild these so there aren't individual tiles, but one big one. I'm not scientist so I don't know if that can be done, but thats my logical thought.

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I am just curious why it caused The Columbia to go down and not The Atlantis. This fall, the same thing happened on The Altantis's (not sure how to type that) launch - a piece of foam broke off and hit the shuttle. I am guessing that it hit a less vital area, but we will find out soon enough.

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BTW - I don't think they can make one big tile (it would have to be very flexible), but I do think they need to look at a method other than tiling. Like I read in an article - we have gloves that protect hands upto something like 2000 degrees, can't we make something more flexible than ceramic tiles?

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I am just curious why it caused The Columbia to go down and not The Atlantis.  This fall, the same thing happened on The Altantis's (not sure how to type that) launch - a piece of foam broke off and hit the shuttle.  I am guessing that it hit a less vital area, but we will find out soon enough.

From what I've been told (and read) they all lost some during every launch. There was simply no sure way to keep them all on. Though they did make sure the ones in the crutial areas were on as best they could pre launch. My uncle said back in '97 they were testing 6X6 tiles that would actually be attached to the undershield with "fastners" but that failed because of the risk of heat getting under them and burning it up that way too. The reason why they use the smaller tiles is because even though they do fall off.. more of them stay on then with the bigger sizes. I'm with Chisoxfn.. maybe one big one? But then where do they produce it and how do they attach it. Currently they are produced in a oven similar to a pottery oven at temperatures in excess of 3500 degrees. Can you imagine the size that oven would have to be? And how on earth would they handle something so big to ensure that it made it's way onto the shuttle without compromising it's intregrity (i.e.. not enduring any cracks, bubbles, etc.). I can't imagine the pressure these guys are under to attempt to guarantee safety. But as with anything humans are involved in.. nothing is 100% safe.

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BTW - I don't think they can make one big tile (it would have to be very flexible), but I do think they need to look at a method other than tiling.  Like I read in an article - we have gloves that protect hands upto something like 2000 degrees, can't we make something more flexible than ceramic tiles?

Ceramic is the only substance able to sustain the heat. Everything else acts as a conductor for the heat rather than a dissapator (sp?). The ceramic actually absorbes and dispurses (if that makes any sense) the heat evenly from the middle out to and off the sides of the shuttle rather than it getting too hot in one place and melting.

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Well..... just to add to the mystery..... supposedly, a photographer in SF has submitted a photo to NASA today that appears to show the left side of the Columbia being struck by what appears to be lightning. Also, on AOL's homepage, NASA is now looking at the possibility of ice. To make a long story short, it appears to be but may not be the tiles. NASA has alot to sort out.

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Hey cubkilla- I read that article too - that's something else. The weird part is that it can't be lightning as we know it - they were well above where lightning as we know it happens. I am really curious to know what that purple streak was and whether they will release photos of it.

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Well..... just to add to the mystery..... supposedly, a photographer in SF has submitted a photo to NASA today that appears to show the left side of the Columbia being struck by what appears to be lightning. Also, on AOL's homepage, NASA is now looking at the possibility of ice. To make a long story short, it appears to be but may not be the tiles. NASA has alot to sort out.

There is always ice on the external fuel takes from the nitrogen. I did hear about the lightning.. but I think that's a bit far fetched..

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Well, does anyone here think that Nasa will never tell us what really happened if it wasn't the tiles?

 

I'm not saying this is something to cover up, but a lot of the time, they are very quiet and many think they have covered plenty of things up; maybe even the moon landing :headbang

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I'm not saying this is something to cover up, but a lot of the time, they are very quiet and many think they have covered plenty of things up; maybe even the moon landing  :headbang

Ask all of the conspiracy theorists who it was then that stuck an American Flag and miscellaneous exploring equiptment on the Moon's "Sea of Tranquility." When the moon passes over the earth during a specific orbit, you can see the equiptment on the surface of the moon through telescopes at planetariums. Chicago's Adler Planetarium has telescopes powerful enough to see the area very well.

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