Heat entered orbiter because of pre-existing damage in left wing, says CAIB

Florida Today ^ | 3-30-03 | John Kelly

[Prince Charles]

HOUSTON - Superhot gas entered the front of Columbia's left wing just 16 seconds after the orbiter penetrated the hottest part of Earth's atmosphere, according to temperature sensor readings extracted from a flight recorder salvaged from the wreckage.

The sensors, located just inside the leading edge panels of the shuttle's left wing, recorded rising temperatures about one minute before any previously reported trouble, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board said Sunday.

[friendly]

The cause of this preventable disaster was the Clinton Administration ordered "environmentally friendly" second rate foam insulation on the External Fuel Tank peeling off as seen in the video, smashing into the left wing.

If only NASA had not replaced the perfectly good original insulation. It was however mandated by the EPA under that vermin Browne weasel-flunky.

Once again, thank you Clinton, you endless lying catastrophe.

[Budge]

Ping.

Who else did I forget to ping?

[Prince Charles]

This new data suggests the wing started melting somewhere near Hawaii (about 9 minutes before breakup).

[TennesseeProfessor]

While the EPA-friendly tank did break apart and hit the left wing, the blame for this can not be placed on Clinton. First, NASA obtained a waiver from the EPA, legally allowing them to revert back to the older insulation. They did not. Second, even though mid-level engineers had made arrangements for military telescopes to examine the left wing, high-level NASA administrators canceled the request and remained in deliberate ignorance about the extent of the damage.

[jlogajan]

Pre-existing damage. Nothing to do with the coincidental foam strike.

[friendly]

NASA obtained a waiver from the EPA, legally allowing them to revert back to the older insulation. They did not.

OK but given the NASA cutbacks, was it not ruled too costly to go back to the proper original insulation?

Two things for sure: 1) The Clinton politically correct insulation that caused this billion dollar catastrophe will go into the dumpster. and 2) The Old Media will never report this story.

[Nephi]

Pre-existing damage.

Care to elaborate?

[dadokane]

In other related news NASA has announced plans for its new Space Shuttle Internship Program...

[jlogajan]

"Heat entering the leading edge panels bolsters a top theory of the board, which already has reported that debris struck the orbiter on the underside of wing panels 6, 7 and 8 during launch. The first indication that gases, as hot as 3,000 degrees, entered the vehicle comes from sensors located a few feet away on panels 9 and 10, the board reported."

[TennesseeProfessor]

The way I read the article, the "pre" of "preexisting" refers to before the shuttle started its descent. In other words, it was not a lightning strike or control failure during descent. It still seems likely that the foam (ice?) collision was a big factor, perhaps by denting the carbon-carbon tiles where it hit and exposing a gap a few feet away.

[XBob]

thanks for the ping, budge

[snopercod]

I hate to bring logic into this discussion, but the only thing new that has been learned here is that the original breach was in the the area of the leading edge, not down by the landing gear door.

Whether the foam, or something else, caused the breach is still an open quesion.

We still have no information on that object that floated away from the Columbia on orbit. We still don't know what kinds of modifications were performed on the leading edge during OMDP. We still have no resolution on the "blue lightning" which was seen near the shuttle about the time of the RCC failure. I believe (but am not sure), that the yellow-ice theory has been discounted. Then there are micrometeorites of course, as well as "bubbles" in the RCC itself.

I fear that the "powers that be" are eager to pin this failure on something - anything - as soon as possible, even though the real cause of the failure may never be known.

I will just feel more comfortable placing the blame on the ET foam/ice if and when these other theories have been investigated and rejected.

[snopercod]

The OEX data is in many streams. Some of them - the temperature and strain measurements for instance - are in digital format, and can just be printed out on fan-fold paper for review.

The other measurements - like the accoustic and vibration measurements - are actually analog data (frequency division multiplexed) and must be demultiplexed to strip-chart recorders and reviewed manually the old fashioned way.

I am very interested in these analog measurements during the time of ascent when the foam/ice is supposed to have hit the left wing. There may well be something recorded on these analog channels indicative of an impact.

[Budge]

I am very interested in these analog measurements during the time of ascent when the foam/ice is supposed to have hit the left wing.

That is the information I'm anxious to see also.

[aristeides]

FYI.

[_Jim]

because of pre-existing damage along the leading edge

Bingo!

[_Jim]

Whether the foam, or something else, caused the

It's been my contention all along that the LESS (Leading Edge Structural Subsystem) is just as vulnerable - if not more so - to impact damage than the 'tiles'. It has been my supposition that the foam or foam/ice mass impacted the LESS (leading edge assembly composed of RCC sections) and a series of events "domino'd" into the failure we eventually saw ...

[TLBSHOW]

over 2 months ago this happend.

[HighWheeler]

What a poor write-up. The "pre-existing condition" isn't well described. The author meant to imply the foam impact at launch, but used this vague term that implies any time prior to the failure.

The dramatic and extensive tile damage that occurred to Columbia in December 1997 from launch impacts, that nearly breached the tiles, strongly implicates the far larger piece of foam that hit in January. The fact that the thermal wing sensors match the same area only bolster the theory that the foam was the root cause of the tile damage.

I see that the idiot Ron Dittemore was pulled off the case. What an incompetent boob.