Shuttle Data Recorder May be Key to Accident

DreamerFi writes "A flight data recorder from the space shuttle Columbia, recovered last week in East Texas, contains readings that continue 14 seconds later than any previously studied data. Those readings are likely to play a crucial role in determining the cause of the shuttle's catastrophic breakup on Feb. 1."

Comments

Good

[haedesch]

Now hopefully after we know the cause, manned spaceflights can continue

space is still risky

[Montgomery Burns III]

Was it Heinlin or Bradbury who wrote that there there are a thousand ways to die in space?

We have perhaps forgotten the thousands of details needed to go exactly right in order for people not to die.
Moreover, travelling and re-entry at 13,000 miles an hour is downright scary.

Re:space is still risky

[blakespot]

We have perhaps forgotten the thousands of details needed to go exactly right in order for people not to die.
Moreover, travelling and re-entry at 13,000 miles an hour is downright scary.

Exactly.

I think it is very tragic, the loss of the shuttle crew, but people really should not react to it as though there is some expected guarantee of a crew's safe return home. Sure, safety is one of the #1 concerns and considerations in the space program, but we are trying to "boldly go where no man/one has gone before." Space has risks and there are unknown variables. Should we turn away from space travel / research because of these risks? Is that what the crew, who you can be sure were well aware of said risks, would have wanted?

I think not.

blakespot

However

[Chardish]

It's time for us to move beyond the space shuttle for our regular space missions and develop something that works a lot better, a lot cheaper, and a lot more exciting. The shuttle, unfortunately, is necessary at this point to finish the ISS *cough*WASTEOFMONEY*cough* but it's not too late to go to the drawing board and develop a space vehicle (preferably with long-range capabilities) that does not involve getting off the ground by blasting itself off the ground with hundreds of pounds of fuel.

-Evan

Re:However

[g4dget]

So, you propose to use single-use vehicles to save on fuel?

Exactly. Return vehicles can be cheap and reliable if they are small, dumb, and Apollo/Soyuz-like. And, as the link shows, the Europeans scrapped Hermes and kept ARD--someone else seems to think it makes sense. And it's working for the Russians as well. Compare that with the enormous cost of each shuttle launch.

I gotta say, I'm glad you don't run CalTrans!

Space travel may be "public transportation", but, surprising as that may be to you, the cost structure differs significantly from trains and trolleys.

Missing Data

[gmuslera]

"Kilroy was here" :)

How much drastically could this tape change the reconstruction of the problem that is already done. There are even timelines of how things happened, when the problem started, what sensors stopped to report, and almost all that happened till it was too late. Thit last 14 extra seconds will only show the last parts of destruction, but should not change what is already know about what happened, what caused all, and most of how it propagates in the ship.

Re:Black box?!

[foistboinder]

It's not really a black box like those found on airliners. It's simply a data recorder lucky enough to survive relatively intact.

BTW, the telemetry sent by the shuttle, in theory, provides more information than a black box.

Re:It's just NASA Negligence...

[kinnell]

Suffice to say, having any damamge (her than a few heat tiles) should bar it from re-entry

They had no means to repair the damage, and insufficient life support to wait in space for a repair mission to be sent. They chose to try landing a damaged shuttle (which enginners said would probably be OK anyway) instead of suffocating in orbit. What would you have done?

Don't Villianize the Space Program

[totallygeek]

Remember, this is the most dangerous job in the world, yet there are many people that dream of reaching the heavens. While tragic, we cannot make space flight safer than it is. Seven people died in the most well-maintained, fastest travelling, farthest travelling piece of machinery in the world. Countless people die in our safe automobiles daily on their way to eat lunch at speeds the shuttle reaches in less than 2 seconds after launch.

Most astronauts are adrenaline junkies anyway, flying experimental jets, climbing mountains, sky diving, etc. Many cadets in the space program and military personnel wishing to join the space program when their duties are up die before they join NASA. We have lost less than 20 people total defying gravity, and I call that a wonderful sucess.

Re:The Shuttle is *extremely* difficult to land ..

[Hektor_Troy]

Actually ...

I heard one of the pilots in the USAF with the most air time comment something like

"Landing is easy. Landing without dying is a bit more tricky. Landing without damage is tricker still."