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]

...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


\
..\
....\
......\
........\
.........(+)
.
.
.
______________________
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, May 31 2008


[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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