In the full testimony given for the Challanger, it was noted that the program managers had serious concern raised by Thiokol engineers that they had never tested the O-reing seals at the freezing temperatures prevailing on the shady sides of the boosters.
The PM launch deciders were apparantly reassured when someone said that the Titan launches with 'the same' O-ring seals, had survived launch at low temperatures.
They were not told, that 'the same' seals had the V part of the seals pointing down on Titans, but pointing up on Chalanger.
Hansen should be allowed to speak his opinion, subject to the obvious trap of
credibility, ego. Saving the world from (fill in the list - apocalypse, extinction of species etc.) is heady stuff and gets media attention far beyond what the (peer reviewed) sober teachnical work (with its obligatory qualifications of the things omitted and the uncertainties in data and calculations) gets. Add to this the exuberance of occupying the moral high ground and temptatrion abounds.
Decisions on future coarses of action coasting
multiples of a GNP obviously involve many trade-offs. Specialists in narrow fields of science and technology often get guru treatment by media and some succumb to the temptation speak in areas beyond what they know. They nevertheless deserve to be heard, but the media need to be less gullible.
Slashdot Mirror
In the full testimony given for the Challanger, it was noted that the program managers had serious concern raised by Thiokol engineers that they had never tested the O-reing seals at the freezing temperatures prevailing on the shady sides of the boosters. The PM launch deciders were apparantly reassured when someone said that the Titan launches with 'the same' O-ring seals, had survived launch at low temperatures. They were not told, that 'the same' seals had the V part of the seals pointing down on Titans, but pointing up on Chalanger.
Hansen should be allowed to speak his opinion, subject to the obvious trap of credibility, ego. Saving the world from (fill in the list - apocalypse, extinction of species etc.) is heady stuff and gets media attention far beyond what the (peer reviewed) sober teachnical work (with its obligatory qualifications of the things omitted and the uncertainties in data and calculations) gets. Add to this the exuberance of occupying the moral high ground and temptatrion abounds. Decisions on future coarses of action coasting multiples of a GNP obviously involve many trade-offs. Specialists in narrow fields of science and technology often get guru treatment by media and some succumb to the temptation speak in areas beyond what they know. They nevertheless deserve to be heard, but the media need to be less gullible.