[XBob]

168-"I was leaning towards the theory that the debris object was a chunk of ice, until I viewed the video. The 'dance' of the debris object is- IMHO, uncharateristic of how a heavier piece of debris, such as a chunk of ice would behave, versus a piece of foam. "

Glad you saw the 'dance' too. You apparently are one of the very few who can see it on your equipment, besides me.

I just read another response where he said that ice would be heavier and thus more likely to maintain it's momentum with the vehicle than would the foam, therefore, be traveling slower relative speed.

[XBob]

If the ice weighted 1 lb and was going 300mph, it would have 6K ft-lbs of energy. the heavier the patch, the less the relative speed of the impact - remember that the debris was going the same speed as the orbiter when it broke loose. A light fluffy object would decelerate rapidly from the air-resistance, but a heavier object, such as ice, would both maintain its forward momentum, and be more prone to flutter outward. If uncoated ice, a flat piece of ice would likely begin coming apart just from the stresses when it turned perpendicular to the air-stream. 273 posted on 02/06/2003 11:22 AM PST by lepton