NASA Finds 4-5" Crack in Shuttle Insulation

PresidentKang writes "Spaceflight Now is reporting that a large crack has been found in an external tank foam of Space Shuttle Discovery on the launch pad. According to the article: "Engineers inspecting the shuttle Discovery's external tank following Sunday's launch scrub found a crack in the tank's foam insulation near a bracket holding a 17-inch oxygen feed line in place. Some engineers believe the crack must be repaired but senior managers say a variety of options are on the table, from fly as is to making repairs.""

Comments

Re:How can they fix this

[sparky555]

The only reason why the foam is a problem is because the orbiter hangs from the side of the tank and can be hit by the foam when it falls off. In future generations of manned spacecraft, the crew vehicle will be on the top again, like in Apollo, Gemini and Mercury. In that case, it really doesn't matter what falls off.

Re:How can they fix this

[Zinnian]

The way I understood the replacement is that the module will be sitting on top of the tank instead of piggybacking as the current shuttle is. If it does, do we really care if insulation falls off during launch? It won't hit the part that comes back into the atmosphere anyways. I remember those old Apollo films where the chunks of ice were just dropping off in huge chunks.

Re:How can they fix this

[0123456]

"I wouldn't be suprised if the external tank is insulated just because of how the shuttle is mounted on the assembly."

It's more complicated than that. It is needed to stop ice forming that would trash the shuttle, but it also reduces fuel boiloff, protects the tank from aerodynamic heating, and keeps the metal cold... the metal in the tank gets stronger as it cools down, and that means they've been able to cut back on the amount they use. Since the tank goes most of the way to orbit, saving a pound of mass in the tank gives you close to a pound of extra payload in the shuttle.

Re:Shouldn't Fuel under uncertain Weather conditio

[Aladrin]

Because in Florida (I live here) it doesn't matter what the weather report says, there's always a 50% chance of rain. I gave up listening to the weather reports long ago.

The only time they are right is when they say 'It's raining right now' or 'It's sunny outside.' We don't even need dark clouds for rain, lightning, or both. Sunny showers are not that uncommon.

In short, 30% is just as good as 80% here.

Oh, and btw, if the weather report says 'in 12 hours, a hurricane will hit your town' you can safely sit at home and eat popcorn. It's not going to hit you.