Shuttle RCC mystery

There's a nice video of Endeavour's launch on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KePTgcYkRNM
As the Orbiter pulls off of the ET after SSME cutoff and ascends away
from the tank, you can see that one section of the RCC on the leading
edge of the port wing is noticeably lighter colored than the ones to
either side of it.
Did they replace this panel recently, giving it different reflectivity
than those around it?
Start at the 11:00 minute mark.

Pat

On 5/19/2011 11:32 PM, Pat Flannery wrote:
There's a nice video of Endeavour's launch on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KePTgcYkRNM
As the Orbiter pulls off of the ET after SSME cutoff and ascends away
from the tank, you can see that one section of the RCC on the leading
edge of the port wing is noticeably lighter colored than the ones to
either side of it.

It's also visible on this video of the Endeavour's flip-over maneuver
prior to docking to the ISS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19Bvj_g6XAM
(start at the 1:00 mark)
And looks to be directly ahead of a black recently replaced wing tile.

Pat

On 20/05/2011 5:32 PM, Pat Flannery wrote:
There's a nice video of Endeavour's launch on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KePTgcYkRNM
As the Orbiter pulls off of the ET after SSME cutoff and ascends away
from the tank, you can see that one section of the RCC on the leading
edge of the port wing is noticeably lighter colored than the ones to
either side of it.
Did they replace this panel recently, giving it different reflectivity
than those around it?
Start at the 11:00 minute mark.

Pat

It's something to do with a laminar flow experiment or something -
slightly thicker panel than the others.

On Thu, 19 May 2011 23:32:40 -0800, Pat Flannery
wrote:

There's a nice video of Endeavour's launch on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KePTgcYkRNM
As the Orbiter pulls off of the ET after SSME cutoff and ascends away
from the tank, you can see that one section of the RCC on the leading
edge of the port wing is noticeably lighter colored than the ones to
either side of it.
Did they replace this panel recently, giving it different reflectivity
than those around it?
Start at the 11:00 minute mark.

It was a replacement panel's first flight.

Brian

On 5/20/2011 5:56 AM, Brian Thorn wrote:

Did they replace this panel recently, giving it different reflectivity
than those around it?
Start at the 11:00 minute mark.

It was a replacement panel's first flight.

What caused the need for it to get replaced? Those things are expensive,
and they don't relpace them without good reason.
I noticed it's very near the position of the one that damaged on
Columbia, and wondered if it was the one off of an actual orbiter that
was used in the air gun foam impact tests.
It's interesting that the RCC panels start out lighter colored and
darken with multiple reentries, while the silica belly tiles start out
black and turn gray with age.

Pat

On May 20, 1:49*pm, Pat Flannery wrote:
On 5/20/2011 5:56 AM, Brian Thorn wrote:

Did they replace this panel recently, giving it different reflectivity
than those around it?
Start at the 11:00 minute mark.

It was a replacement panel's first flight.

What caused the need for it to get replaced? Those things are expensive,
and they don't relpace them without good reason.
I noticed it's very near the position of the one that damaged on
Columbia, and wondered if it was the one off of an actual orbiter that
was used in the air gun foam impact tests.
It's interesting that the RCC panels start out lighter colored and
darken with multiple reentries, while the silica belly tiles start out
black and turn gray *with age.

Pat

with the program at its end they might as well use spare parts if
theres any issues, plus a flowqn TPS would make a niftier museum
display

On Fri, 20 May 2011 09:49:23 -0800, Pat Flannery
wrote:

On 5/20/2011 5:56 AM, Brian Thorn wrote:

Did they replace this panel recently, giving it different reflectivity
than those around it?
Start at the 11:00 minute mark.

It was a replacement panel's first flight.

What caused the need for it to get replaced?

Standard timetable for replacement. I forget what the number of
flights is.

Brian

On 5/20/2011 4:28 PM, Brian Thorn wrote:

What caused the need for it to get replaced?

Standard timetable for replacement. I forget what the number of
flights is.

I found another, older, photo of Endeavour in orbit showing different
colored RCC leading edge panels:
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/2...40_946-710.jpg
Also dug up the info on what the "BLT Trip Tile" is all about:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/...s-134-mission/
I assume that was the black tile I noted on the video of the flip maneuver.

Pat