Shuttle Columbia STS-107 Message Board

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Pastimes : Shuttle Columbia STS-107

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To: Yogizuna who wrote (602)	6/29/2003 5:14:02 AM
From: S. maltophilia	Read Replies (2) of 627

<<researchers shot a 1.67-pound chunk of foam from a gas cannon at a full-size model of the wing's leading edge at about 530 miles per hour. >> Do you know of a link with flight data (altitude, velocity and acceleration at T+~80 secs.)of the shuttle at the time that the foam hit it. And I'm also looking for the distance from the point where the foam left the fuel tank to the leading wing edge. What I don't understand is how these guys came up with their 530 m.p.h. figure. When the foam breaks off it is traveling at the same velocity as the rest of the spacecraft. It is then accelerated downwards at 9.8 m/sec/sec + whatever the aerodynamic drag component at that altitude might be for an irregularly shaped piece of foam. To attain a relative velocity of 500 m.p.h. in a very short distance would seem to require a very high acceleration on the part of the foam. Seems to me that the foam can't possibly attain that kind of velocity that quickly and the impact velocity is critical to the damage it causes (1/2 mv squared) Can anyone take me beyond Physics 101 on this?

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