From: Bret Kulakovich (bret@bonfireproductions.com)
Date: Mon Feb 03 2003 - 13:40:00 MST
>Spudboy100@aol.com wrote:
>
> > 2. I was reading a suggested reason for the disaster today. One
> > possibility was the peeling of the "thermal protective tiles" on the
> > left wing of the shuttle. My concern is that we are still using, from a
> > materials-science point of view, nomex or nextel tiles.
Yes, the earlier orbiters were tiles head to toe.
The later orbiters Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavor, replaced their
tiling in certain areas, such as the outer over-wing sidewalls with a
fireproof fabric like material. It saved almost two tons in launch
weight.
The belly, nose, and much of the rest of the orbiter remains
blown-silica glass tile type stuff.
Bret Kulakovich
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