Special review by Tal Inbar, senior researcher, Fisher Institute for Strategic Air and Space Research
Amber dew
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On Wednesday, July 26, the American space shuttle Discovery took off into space. The mission, the launch of which has been postponed several times, is the first manned space flight carried out by the American space agency since the space shuttle Columbia disaster of February 1.2.2003, XNUMX. The hopes for a successful mission went far beyond the spheres of NASA and the space industry - to the general public and to communication tools around the world.
As a reminder, the launch scheduled for July 13 was canceled two hours before the scheduled time, due to abnormal readings of one of the fuel sensors in the shuttle's external fuel tank. Surprisingly, the cause of the malfunction was not located despite a tremendous effort by all NASA centers across the USA. An administrative decision was made, according to which if the sensor fails again, the shuttle will be launched anyway. (The fuel tank has four sensors for liquid hydrogen, and four for liquid oxygen. Even with two normal sensors of each type, you can fly safely). Despite the decision to "flex" (some would say "bend") the safety procedures, it was not necessary, all the sensors transmitted correct readings in the pre-launch tests. The second launch attempt was crowned with success and the shuttle took off as planned. However, shortly after the launch, the television networks began to report on unidentified pieces that were seen falling from the shuttle. What happened next can be described as a media devil's dance, every television reporter, every journalist with his expertise in the field of space who wondered, began to report from his heart's thoughts about the impending disaster. Unfortunately, communication tools in Israel also sinned in this way.
It should be noted that the distance between the falling of the insulating foam and the descriptions of the dangers of an approaching disaster is very long. No space shuttle launch has ever been photographed the way Discovery was photographed on its current flight. Over a hundred cameras of excellent quality filmed the take-off from the ground, from the air and from space.
A careful analysis of the images brings up the following findings:
Seconds after takeoff, a bird hit the external fuel tank;
Even during takeoff, small pieces of insulating foam fell from the external fuel tank;
Tiny pieces (2-4 cm) of ceramic insulation tiles fell during takeoff, from the front passenger compartment area of the shuttle;
A large piece of insulating foam (about 70 cm long) fell from the fuel tank, seconds before it was disconnected, when the spacecraft was in space. This large piece of foam did not damage the shuttle at all.
A piece of thermal insulation blanket was torn from its place, near the shuttle's window in the bow area.
Part of the shuttle's mission is a careful examination of the shuttle, designed to detect any damage to its thermal insulation system. It should be noted that the astronauts on the shuttle have the initial ability to repair damage to the ceramic insulation tiles, and one of the planned experiments is to perform repairs on broken tiles that were specially brought into space.
The largest piece of foam that fell could have caused extremely severe damage to the space shuttle Discovery, perhaps even more severe than that caused to the space shuttle Columbia. If the piece of insulation had fallen a few tens of seconds before its fall, in the state in which Discovery was in the Earth's atmosphere, it is likely that it would have been seriously damaged. Fortunately, the event occurred when the shuttle was already in space. For more on this topic
It is to be hoped that the problem of the disconnected insulation will be resolved soon, and that luck will not be needed to avoid a serious disaster. The severance of such a large piece of insulation is especially painful in view of the fact that huge sums were spent after the Columbia disaster specifically to solve this problem. The shuttle's fuel tank is manufactured by the Lockheed-Martin Corporation. Detailed technical information about the external fuel tank and its systems - on the NASA site dedicated to the fuel tank.
The decision to ground the space shuttles is of great significance on the level of consciousness, in the history of NASA there have been only 3 groundings of the space shuttle fleet - after the Challenger disaster in 1986, after the Columbia disaster in 2003 and now. It can be assumed that in his decision NASA Director Griffin wanted to emphasize the seriousness of the problem, which has accompanied the space shuttle program since its inception, and for which a satisfactory solution has not yet been found.
Various announcements coming out from senior officials in the American space agency, along with repeated delays in the launch of the space shuttles, paint a grim picture, according to which the International Space Station may not be completed until 2010, or that its overall planning will be cut and assemblies will not be launched into space at all. In the next newsletter, we will be able to summarize the mission of the space shuttle Discovery, and discuss the lessons that will be learned from the various vulnerabilities during the flight. We hope that the continuation of the mission will be successful, and we await a safe landing on August 8.8.2005, XNUMX.
In order to be updated in real time, it is recommended to enter the links listed below:
Updates on the mission can be seen on the NASA website dedicated to the mission
Live broadcasts from space can be seen on NASA's television channel, NASA TV (which broadcasts 24 hours a day) on the channel's website.
A photo gallery of the various attacks on the shuttle can be found on the news site space.com
The concentration of the materials until the mission in the science of returning to space
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