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dreada5
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http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/08/12/space.shuttle.ap/index.html<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Gerstenmaier said one short-term solution may be to remove the foam from this so-called PAL ramp area where the big piece came off, and reapply it in a better way.<br /><br />Long-term options include removing the foam altogether from this location, adding fiber to the foam to make it adhere better, or attaching some sort of netting in select spots. But with a 2010 deadline looming for the retirement of the shuttles, it's uncertain how much time and money NASA is willing to spend.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br /><br />What do you guys think? The netting solution doesn't sound very expensive...<br /><br />It probably is as NASA officials stated a very complex engineering problem, but I think it's going to require much more fundamental work than they have done to date, maybe in the shape of changing the type of foam, using something other than foam altogether or adding some kind of additional covering to the surface of the ET to really minimise the loss foam during ascent.