Columbia Accident
From CNN : "A piece of foam fired at the replica at about 500 mph punched a hole 16-inches in diameter in the reinforced carbon material, as onlookers gasped at the Southwest Research Institute. "We have found the smoking gun," said Scott Hubbard, a member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. "
Shortly after the accident NASA said, that the piece of isolating foam which had hit Columbiaīs left wing was considered no danger. I had no problems believing that - but the picture in my mind was a slowly rising shuttle just after Lift Off.
I had no idea that this lumb of isolating foam hit with 500mph!
Now, I am a pilot not an engineer, but I have experienced little birds making dents in the leading edge of my plane at speeds like 250mph.
Sure an airlinerīs leading edge is not built to weather a reentry from orbit. Nevertheless I would have considered any flying structure to be endangered by anything that hit with M0,8.
Are there any experts out on the forum able to make an educated guess on the assumptions of the NASA Team about that incident on Lift Off? What theory could have made them confident that there would be no dangerous consequences for Columbia?