Sylvia Else wrote:

"In a stroke of luck, they're right beneath the aluminum framework for
the right wing, which would offer extra protection during the ride
back to Earth."

Given that the aluminium (yanks don't know how to spell) would melt, I
find this an odd usage of the word "luck".

I think the concept is that the reentry plasma would have to get through
the skin and framework it's attached to before getting inside the wing's
internal structure. IIRC, there has been a case before where a burning
of the aluminum skin has occurred due to tile damage, and although it
was expensive to repair, it didn't do major damage to the Shuttle.
The big problem with tile damage is the dread hypothesized "zipper
effect"- one tile disintegrates during reentry, and this starts causing
tiles aft of it to fail and fall off also as the skin overheats in the
superheated turbulent airflow caused by the missing tile...until you
have a big hole in the wing and its structure fails.
The damage is somewhat worrying because it's at the junction point of
three tiles. in the center of one, and the tile hadn't cracked in half,
they might be less concerned.
Anyway, if they decide to do a repair, this is the type damage to do a
repair on; the hole is quite small, and it's on area of the underbelly
that doesn't have a complex aerodynamic shape, so the repair can be
basically flat in form.

Pat