That Interesting Foam Situation

You just have to laugh, or cry, concerning NASA's current Shuttle
situation. So they have spent two and a half years, and countless
billions, fixing these problems, where from the public point of view
they are now back to square one.

So despite all this time and money the exact same "foam problem" that
destroyed the Columbia remains. And that is why the Shuttles have once
again been grounded, where the anti-Shuttle crowd are now calling for
the immediate termination of the entire Shuttle program.

It just seems to me that there are more than a few idiots around these
days. Sure this is not an ideal situation, but then it is neither as
bad as what most people are currently seeing.

The first thing I noticed about this launch was how much the camera
coverage had improved. Then they did not quite do that for the TV and
Internet viewers did they? I also noticed how nice looking the ET was
these days, with a multi colour system.

That camera on the ET is a very good thing for NASA publicity, but in
this case there is also a down side. As I indeed noticed the live
coverage of that foam chunk breaking off.

The first case of the paranoid idiot syndrome crops up from those
people who cannot even do a simple E=MC2 calculation.

Columbia's foam problem came about due to using weaker CFC free foam
that lead to foam breaking off while still thick in the Earth's
atmosphere. That thick atmosphere quickly slowed the foam that lead to
a large velocity difference when it impacted Columbia's wing. Lots of
energy transfer and a resulting big hole.

Now in this case the foam broke off high in Earth's atmosphere, where
you can watch this foam slowly drift away. Just by working out how
much energy this foam had, then you can see that it would not have
been a problem had it struck Discovery. I am sure that you could have
even head butted that foam without knocking your brains out. :-]

What is more is that this foam only came off a few seconds following
SRB separation. Guess what caused this foam to come off? And so this
foam successfully survived the trip all through the thick atmosphere,
only to be knocked out, for some unknown reason, by the violent SRB
separation.

I am also sure that it is true to say that foam breaking off in this
weak spot is unlikely to hit the Shuttle anyway. Should it ever do so,
then lets keep in mind that this is high atmosphere and low energy
foam.

So is this successful and safe launch reason to ground the entire
Shuttle fleet? Let me guess. Paranoia over "killer foam" and not
understanding the real risk to blame.

Sure it would be nice to not have any foam break off, but lets keep in
mind that this is "foam". One knock and it is off in other words. And
even in the worst case situation, then does not NASA now do a post
launch inspection for damage?

So again, no problem.

And so NASA is now back to the drawing board trying to solve a
problem, that is not really a problem, and one that they are unlikely
to (easily) fix anyway. Do I really need to point out a successful
launch?

I even heard them say that it was a mistake to launch Discovery. Oh so
you thought that it would work out fine, where you would not wish to
test it out? Idiots...

So the wonderful situation now exists where NASA does not wish to
launch their astronauts in the safest Shuttle System yet made. That to
me kind of harms the memory of every successful and more risky launch
that came before this one.

I think that NASA needs to accept that the Shuttle will always be the
not so ideal system. Not that it is "fundamentally flawed" in any area
beyond a crew escape system, when I see the Shuttle more like a
software application that simply needs to be debugged, but with using
foam and these weak tiles you really are always going to have bits
breaking off.

And so until NASA has their "moon ship" then they really are going to
have to "deal with it". Too bad that they cannot have put the foam on
the inside, but there you go.

The other problem is that the main reason for why the Shuttle exists
is to build space stations. And it now seems questionable if these
Shuttles are even going to manage to complete even one.

History will not look kindly on the Shuttle anyway, but to not
actually complete the ISS is a crime that makes the whole point of
having the Shuttle kind of pointless.

It also seems to me that Congress is willing to give NASA the time
and/or money in order to complete the ISS. And so all it now takes is
NASA's desire to actually do it.

So they lack the desire to kill another Shuttle crew. Even if the
Shuttle now appears perfectly safe, until the next crew killing post
obvious "surprise" pops up. That attitude won't help them much with
even more risky Moon, Mars and beyond missions.

Well you can only do the best that you can do, even if you kill people
in the process. Anyone that knows the Shuttle knows that this
Discovery launch was really the safest one yet. And so NASA is doing
great in failing to build the ISS due to their "foam paranoia".

People were nervous due to this being Columbia Disaster +1, where they
were on the look out for killer foam. And NASA's new ET camera filming
the violent SRB separation gave then exactly what they wanted. Except
that the public does not understand harmless foam, where the
anti-Shuttle people are playing on this.

Their next Shuttle launch was due in September. And I hope that NASA
deals with their foam paranoia, where the next launch of their "safest
Shuttle yet" will still go ahead.

The thing is that NASA has to make a choice. Fly the Shuttle, or to
ground it forever. Since they are obligated to fly the Shuttle anyway,
when your country would not permit less, then it is time to stop
assing about and to actually launch it.

I see another year long delay in trying even harder to get foam not to
do what it does best, along with billions more wasted, as clearly
unacceptable. This is a case of don't try to fix what is not really a
problem.

What is more is that they should increase the Shuttle launch rate in
order to complete the ISS before September 2010. That is called
completing their assigned task, using the safest Shuttle System yet
made.

They should also show some balls and to service Hubble. Oh dear foam
falling off and not even going to the safety of the ISS! NASA's
Shuttle problem is not one of safety, but one of weak leadership that
allows paranoia to run rampant.

What NASA needs is not to ground their fleet, but to educate the
population over "harmless foam". After all, it is not a question of if
it comes off, when that is the very nature of foam, but exactly where
and when it comes off. And NASA does have a Plan B in case of a now
very unlikely worse case situation.

Oh yes Plan B. Just like how they strap, and bolt, their astronauts
into these Shuttles and expect them to live following a "killer
glitch". I am not even sure if they would survive if fire broke out,
when it seems to me like it would take 30 minutes to de-bolt and
de-strip them all.

So just how long would it have taken them to launch their backup
Shuttle? And they worry about harmless foam...

The bravest thing that an astronaut does is to be willing to ride the
Shuttle in the first place. I hear no complaints. After that they role
the dice and hope that they do not role snake eyes.

Anyway, my rant is now over. Would NASA kindly get a grip and to
launch the Shuttle in order to service Hubble and complete the ISS. I
would ask anyone here to point out NASA's next killer oversight, which
they cannot do, but we can all now be certain that this won't be foam.

Should NASA lose another Shuttle, then that is Shuttle game over. That
is a situation that they will have to deal with should it ever come
about. Hopefully not.

So at the end of all this my conclusion is that NASA's management
needs some balls. A statement along the line of "We have Hubble to
service, a ISS to build, and all we see is some harmless foam" would
be nice.

Cardman.