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Technicolor Shuttle Reentry

Make it fun to watch the reentry of the Space Shuttle
  (+6)
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For night reentry, the shuttle would have patches of ablative epoxy mixed with various chemicals and/or aluminum shavings attached to the bottom tiles. The epoxies would ablate at different temperatures and you could go from a blazing strontium chloride red to a beautiful copper sulfate blue/green, blending into a lovely sodium yellow and add sparkles from aluminum powder.

Just for us earthbound viewers.

Klaatu, May 31 2008

STS-124 Live Feed http://playlist.yah...9080&segment=149773
Requires Windows Media Player® [Klaatu, May 31 2008]

Where is the Shuttle? http://spaceflight..../realdata/tracking/
Track it here [Klaatu, May 31 2008]

SkyTyping http://www.skytyping.com/
[Klaatu, May 31 2008]

[link]






       ...and if it did burn up on reentry, it could go out with a bang in a display of fireworks! Oh, um, wait a moment...
DrCurry, May 31 2008
  

       <Gary Larson> Unbeknownst to the crew Houston were hoping for a critical re-entry failure to show the world the *mother* of all roman candles. </GL>   

       [edit] Sorry DrC, must have had a concurrent lapse of Caption Me.
4whom, May 31 2008
  

       considering the dispersion properties of the ablated material would be pretty well known, you could skywrite advertising as you re-entered.
FlyingToaster, May 31 2008
  

       //you could skywrite advertising as you re-entered.//   

       A verrry long "I"? Maybe an "S" at the end?
Klaatu, May 31 2008
  

       [Klaatu] the ablated stuff disperses horizontally (hmm, by the time it was dispersed enough it probably wouldnt be burning, crap)
FlyingToaster, May 31 2008
  

       [Fly'nToast'r] If you could arrange the ablative material VERY precisely, you might be able to create an effect similar to skytyping <link>
Klaatu, May 31 2008
  

       \
..\
....\
......\
........\
.........(+)
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.
.
______________________
  

       [Klaatu] Oooh, ascii art. Needs more than one re-entry per message.   

       <International corporate executive> Did we get the message across?   

       <Ad agency exec> No, but more importantly for the campaign, we got them down!
4whom, May 31 2008
  

       Thanks for that link, Klaatu. Just watching the launch - isn't modern technology full of acronyms?   

       [Edit - either BBC has a time machine, or the web coverage is 90 seconds behind].
MaxwellBuchanan, May 31 2008
  

       //or the web coverage is 90 seconds behind//   

       It's running about 62 seconds behind. Not perfect...but, at least I don't have to listen to the announcers.   

       Did you see the debris (ice?) hit the shuttle at about T+5:43?
Klaatu, May 31 2008
  

       Nope - missed that (twice!). That'll mess up the paint job again.
MaxwellBuchanan, May 31 2008
  
      
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