More on Endeavor's heat shield
Welcome back!
I just got the latest update from CBS Space news about the space shuttle's damaged tile situation.
The gouge comes very close to the skin of the ship, they've taken their scans and now the guys on the ground are going to do some simulations to determine what reentry heat would do to it and if they'll need to attempt repairs. Speaking of which, it turns out that they are equipped to do some repair work on the heat shield:
But Endeavour's crew is trained and equipped to make three different types of heat shield repairs. A spacewalking astronaut anchored to the same boom used to inspect the tiles today could apply a black, paint-like "emittance wash" to the exposed silica fibers of the damaged tiles to improve their ability to reject heat. The astronauts also could fill the gouge with a putty like material known as STA-54. They even have carbon composite panels that can be screwed into the tile to cover large areas of damage.
They're also extending the mission for another three days to give them time to work out what to do about the situation.
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