DrSyn posted a photo above which has been said (not by DrSyn) to show a “bite out of the wing”.
I may be trying to squeeze more out of this fuzzy photo than there is to be squeezed, but my impression is that it shows something projecting forward of the wing rather than something bitten out of it.
To make this easier to talk about, I took the image of the left-hand side of the a/c and flipped top-to-bottom, and drew in some vertical guide lines. I accept that the photo does not show a truly plan view. However, I think its near enough.
I think I see something projecting forward of the leading edge of the left wing in the flipped image. What do other people see?
The next two images are copies of the first two, but with more contrast. The last image is a superposition of images 2 and 3.
What could the projection be (if it is really there at all)? Is it a solid part of the orbiter? I assume not, but it might be. Could it be material being ablated off the wing? The atmosphere was very thin where it was photographed over New Mexico, at maybe 200,000 ft. Could ablated material move up-wind at all on a vehicle moving at more than Mach 20 in a VERY thin atmosphere? I have no idea.
Anybody have any relevant information or opinions?
Note added 10th Feb. 2003 Looking at the video shot in Texas it seems obvious that ablated or burning material can and does move ahead of the solid material. So personally I now tend to believe the photo may show ablating material both ahead of and trailing behind the left wing.
This material seems to be in line or outboard of the undercarriage door area. As far as I can tell fron photos, the hinge of the doors are about in line with the change in angle of the leading edge of the wing, with the undercarriage well being inboard of the hinges.
Looking at the original photo posted above by DrSyn, the pixel size seems to me to be appreciably smaller that the size of the features under discussion.
