BlagooBlanaa wrote:

water is heavy, frozen or not
accelerative loads make it more so
greatly increasing the probability of failure
when shuttle launches



I don't think they can do it, but it would be interesting to be able to
weigh the stacked shuttle on the pad prior to propellant loading.
If it weighs several tens of pounds more just before you tank it up than
it did as it left the VAB, then you've got a problem whose most likely
explanation is that it's been soaking up water some way.
Although the idea of putting pinholes in the foam to allow any trapped
air that got liquefied under the foam to vent safely when ascent heating
caused it to go back into a gaseous state without causing the foam to
debond solves one problem, it also leaves a way for water to get into
the foam.

Pat