On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 06:33:40 +0000, Paul F. Dietz wrote:

Chuck Stewart wrote:

And any "foam" behind [the RCC] would
conduct the heat even faster than the void that is currently behind
the leading edges.

It's not clear this is the case. Heat is being transmitted from
the RCC to the wing structure by radiation. Interposing an opaque
material (for example, carbon aerogel) could actually reduce this.

Hmm?... but what about heat conduction via carbon strands in
contact with both RCC and wing structure? It might not be much, but
it'd be there.

Of course aerogels, silica or carbon, weren't handy when the
orbiter was designed...

Paul

--
Chuck Stewart
"Anime-style catgirls: Threat? Menace? Or just studying algebra?"