Maybe they should just put a big dunce cap on it. :-/

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On Jun 26, 12:48 pm, John Doe wrote:
wrote:
Hail protection - about all you can do is hope there isn't any, the
Rotation Service Structure doesn't cover the top of the ET.
Endeavour's on track for an August 9th launch

Seems that the brunt of the damage came at the very top of the ET where
the ice would impact at its terminal velocity speed (while on the sides,
the impact would be far less, dictated by wind speed puching hail onto
the side of ET).

Couldn't they just put some srt of large plastic bag over the top of the
ET until just a day before launch when they start to need access to fuel
the ET ?

Is there any crane on top of the launch pad that could hoist some
fibreglass "hat" that would go on top of the ET to protect it ?

Why should they do that? This was a freak, once-in-a-decades kind of
hail storm that is not very likely to occur again in the remaining 3
year lifetime of the shuttle program. Making a big fiberglass cap or
other cover requires time and expense that simply is not justified
with only a few years left, and has it's own potentially hazardous
risks.
-Mike