August 03, 2005

Okay, rocket science dudes...

This story about the unprecedented space walk underneath the nose of the Shuttle has me wondering. It says that astronaut Robinson was able to gently pluck the loose strips from their place between the tiles. Now I always thought that the material was in there to provide a heat barrier as well as cushioning between adjacent tiles. If it's gone, couldn't hot gases penetrate further between the tiles to the underlying layers of stuff? I'm sure the NASA guys figure it's better to take it out than to leave it (or try to jimmy it back into place), but I was just wondering if they can do without it in place now, why was it necessary in the first place?

Posted by Terry Oglesby at August 3, 2005 09:53 AM
Comments

Now that it's finished successfully, I guess I can comment. Am I the only one who thinks these separator things look like pieces of cardboard stuffed in to hold things in place? Like you'd do under a table leg? I had visions of tiles flying off into space once the cardboard wedge was removed.

Posted by: skillzy at August 3, 2005 01:51 PM

I do seem to recall there being some concern about tile zippering, so that might not be such a far-fetched thought.

Posted by: Terry Oglesby at August 3, 2005 02:24 PM

And all along, I figured it was just one of the seat belts hanging out a door.

Posted by: BillW at August 3, 2005 03:13 PM

I could be wrong (and forgive me for taking so long to catch up on possumblog), but if I recall correctly, the heat generated upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere by the shuttle is caused by friction. Friction that would substantially be more due to the turbulence created by the non-smooth bits sticking out from the tiles. So the sitcking out bits are removed while the hole areas are filled in?

Not a rocket scientist by any account...

Posted by: Byron Todd at August 11, 2005 12:09 PM

That certainly makes sense (and no apology is needed, by the way). Seeing as how it worked, I suppose it was the thing to do. I still wonder why, if it could get along without it, why it's there to begin with.

It's all part of my theory that if you have a lot of parts left over when you put your tractor back together and it still runs just as good, you probably didn't need those parts anyway.

Posted by: Terry Oglesby at August 11, 2005 12:18 PM