BiPod Heaters?

I was reading NASA's return to flight summary. To fix the cause of foam
shedding from the left bipod ramp, the summary says that it will be
redesigned to eliminate the foam ramp and replace with heaters to
prevent ice buildup. But I thought the primary purpose of the foam was
to prevent heating of the LO2, so the fix seems counter-intuitive.

Any opinions?

To fix the cause of foam shedding from the left bipod ramp, the
summary says that it will be redesigned to eliminate the foam ramp and
replace with heaters to prevent ice buildup. But I thought the
primary purpose of the foam was to prevent heating of the LO2, so the
fix seems counter-intuitive.

Yes, but the bipod ramp has a small surface area, so there won't be a
lot of heating of the LO2 because of this change.

If they tried to change insulation to heaters on the whole tank, it
would be a different matter.

Jim Kingdon wrote:
To fix the cause of foam shedding from the left bipod ramp, the
summary says that it will be redesigned to eliminate the foam ramp and
replace with heaters to prevent ice buildup. But I thought the
primary purpose of the foam was to prevent heating of the LO2, so the
fix seems counter-intuitive.


Yes, but the bipod ramp has a small surface area, so there won't be a
lot of heating of the LO2 because of this change.

If they tried to change insulation to heaters on the whole tank, it
would be a different matter.


Thanks...that's a similar rationale I've heard at s.s.station.