Tech Disaster Columbia

7/23/2019 Tech Disaster Columbia

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The 2003 Columbia Disaster



Columbia history

Milestones – OV102

July 26, 1972 Contract Award

Nov. 21, 1975 Start structural assembly of crew module

June 14, 1976 Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage

March 16, 1977 Wings arrive at Palmdale from Grumman

e!t. "0, 1977 Start of Final Assembly

#e$. 10, 197% Completed final assembly

#e$. 14, 197% Rollout from Palmdale

&!ril 12 19%1 Launc

Jan 16, 200" !"t and Last Fligt



• TheColumbia disaster occurred on February 1

It disintegrated over Texas during re-entry.• Loss of all seven crew, before concluding its 28th mission.

# Caused by damage sustained during launch when a piece of foam

insulation the size of a small briefcase (loaf of bread) and known as the

Left Bipod Foam Ramp broke off the main propellant tank$

# The damaged area allowed the hot gases to penetrate and

destroy the internal wing structure, causing the in-flight break-up.

Columbia: 2003 mission STS-107



Thermal ShieldThermal Shield

Primary heat shield made fromreinforced carbon/carbon tiles.

Capable of withstanding 1700oCSecondary shield Fibrous

refractory composite insulation(FC!" tiles# which are fle$ibleand %ery tough.

&hese combine with interior

insulation to protect the crewand %ehicle during theatmospheric bra'ing phase oforbital re entry.



%e li&uid o'ygen is cryogenically cooled to -())*F +-

,"*C.%e li&uid ydrogen is cilled to -!(*F +-!/(*C.$

%ese li&uids must be 0ept at ig pressure and very low

temperature

or tey will boil bac0 to a gaseous state$

External Tank Foam Insulation



'arnin(s )(nore*'arnin(s )(nore*

After Columbia safely reaced orbit te1ASA engineering safety team madetree re&uests to te 2epartment ofdefence to provide ig definition 3spy4satellite pictures of te orbiter$

%e re&uests were refused as te 252was busy over te middle east$ %e engineering team ten proposed a

space wal0 to cec0 te wing$ 1ASA management refused on te

grounds tat te crew scedule was full$

6ad te damage been discovered tecrew ad no way of ma0ing repairs7$

6owever7 Columbia did not ave enougfuel to doc0 wit te 8SS$

2espite rumours7 Columbia was beyondelp of any 0ind$



+estruction+estruction9ngineering note tat

pressure readings ad beenlost on bot left main landing-gear tyres7 tey tell te crew$

A rapid cascade sensor

failure followed$

%e crew response is garbledand before tey can repeatte message ground

observers report tatColumbia as disintegrated$



NoNoFoam stri0es at launc are still a

problem for te S%S$Stri0es occur because of te

nature of te lifter7 and tere isno way to avoid te problem$

1ASA as investigated many28: repair metods7 but noneave a realistic cance ofwor0ing$

As of now7 wen a suttlelaunces tere is anoter readyon sort standby$



-he Net te!-he Net te!%e future appears to lie wit

truly reusable space veicle$Researc worldwide as been

leaning towards ybrid enginespace planes suc as S0ylonand te ; ($

%ese overcome most of tedisadvantages inerent in tedesign of te suttle$

%e tecnology is ready7 all it

needs is te will and temoney$



#li(ht /istory#li(ht /istory%e first suttle7 Columbia flew on ,!

April ,<",$Since ten tere ave been ,!"launces of wic ! endedcatastropically$

%is gives te suttle a failure rate of

,$=>$ Wic ma0es it ()) timesmore dangerous ten crossing teroad$

Columbia and Callenger were botdestroyed in accidents7 tey werealso te oldest of te five suttles onte 1ASA fleet$



The investigation board recommended:

• improving photography of launches, using telesco

photograph shuttles while they are in space

• adding the ability to repair a shuttle while in orbit.

Columbia: 2003 mission STS-107

Tech Disaster Columbia

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