This story was originally published on HackerNoon at:
https://hackernoon.com/the-ghost-of-columbia-still-haunts-starships-heat-shield.
A chunk of foam doomed Columbia because its heat shield had no backup. Starship's answer: a steel hull, 18,000 pinned hexagonal tiles, and an ablative layer.
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A chunk of foam doomed Columbia because its heat shield had no backup. Starship's answer: a steel hull, 18,000 pinned hexagonal tiles, and an ablative layer underneath. Losing a tile is now survivable. Reflying the same shield the next day? Still unsolved.