Website Navigation and Document Access Pull Down Menu

 
 
 

Complete Index

Section I: Independent investigation and engineering analysis

Summary: Follows STS-107 reentry from deorbit burn to Loss Of Signal
                     (LOS).  Detailed analysis of reentry events.

  1. Columbia's Reentry During STS-107

  • General reentry explanation:

  • Eqn. A1 (Reentry Flight Control Equations)

  • Eqn. A2 (Reentry 6 DOF Equations)

  • Eqn. A3 (Lift and Drag Equations)

  • February 1, 2003 STS-107:

  • Deorbit burn:

  • Entry Interface (EI):

  • Reentry flight maneuvers:

  1. Critical Systems Failures During Reentry

  • Communications failures:

  • Sensor failures:

  • Avionics failures:

  1. Flight Control and Guidance Failures During Reentry

  • Aerodynamic events and attitude corrections:

  1. Eyewitness Accounts

  • Crossing over Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico:

  • Crossing into Texas:

  • Sonic booms:

  1. Los, Orbiter Breakup and Debris Field

  • LOS and Main Body Vehicle Breakup:

  • Table A4 (Space Shuttle Reentry Flight Telemetry)

Summary: Analysis of debris field size and shape and its dependence
                     on the initial parameters of Columbia's breakup.  Analysis of
                     where different events occur within the debris field itself
                     and their significance.

  1. Breakup and Debris Field

  • The dynamics of Columbia's breakup

  • Formation of the debris field

Summary: Definition of hypersonic flow and its effects on the space
                     shuttle especially the TPS during reentry.  Some formulas
                     and hypersonic theory to backup predicted effects.

  1. Introduction to Hypersonic Flight

  2. Sonic Shockwaves and Boundary Layer Flow

  • Shockwave formation

    • Eqn. C1 (Perfect Gas Law Equations)

  • Laminar flow

  • Turbulent flow

  • Missing tiles and turbulent flow

  1. The Wing Leading Edge and  RCC Material

  • RCC Panels

  • Stagnation heating

  1. Plasma Formation

  • Communications

Summary: Analysis of how the Space Shuttle absorbs and rejects heat
                     during orbit and reentry.  Maximum and minimum
                     temperatures the shuttle will reach due to radiation during
                     orbit and convection during reentry.

  1. On Orbit Heat Transfer

  • On orbit Heating Vs. Cooling

  1. Reentry Heat Transfer

  • Heating of suspect areas

  • Underside of wings and fuselage

  • Wing leading edge and nose

  • Skin temperature

  • The Shuttle Airframe

Section II: Official investigation theories data and conclusions

Summary: Dynamics of foam impacts based on information included in
                     the final report as well as historical data and observations.
                     Breakdown of foam debris impact tests done during the
                     investigation.  Analysis done during STS-107 to determine
                     Columbia's flight worthy status for reentry.

Summary: Analysis of sensor data used in the final report that was
                     retrieved from the data tapes of the OEX recorder.
                     Presentation of historical data on debris strikes as well as
                     technical reports discussing the different possible outcomes
                     of a debris strike.

Summary: Description of the C.A.I.B. and the makeup of its members.
                     List of official documents for download.  Analysis of
                     inconsistencies during the investigation and in the final
                     reports.

Summary: All of the possible causes and scenarios for the accident are

                     summarized.  The findings from the different sections of the

                     website are drawn together to establish a relevant and plausible

                     flow of events leading to the destruction of the Columbia.  The

                     data used is checked for accuracy and the chain of events are

                     checked for coherence and plausibility.  The final cause of the

                     accident is described and verified.

 

Section III: Technical Overview of the Space Shuttle Orbiter

Summary: Overall dimensions and weights.  Breakdown of
                     significant and flight critical subsystems.

  1. Complete Assembly

  • Overall dimensions and weights

  • Orbiter airframe

  • Orbiter substructures

  1. Orbiter Subsystems

  • Orbiter avionics subsystem

  • Electrical power subsystem

  • Environmental Control and Life Support subsystem

  • Hydraulics subsystem

Summary: Layout of forward fuselage including the crew cabin, flight
                     deck and mid deck.  Diagram of forward RCS system.

Summary: Layout of components and subsystems in the mid and aft
                     fuselage including the main engines and the aft RCS/OMS
                     system.

Summary: Diagrams showing the basic construction of the wings
                     and the functioning of the different flight control
                     surfaces.

Summary: Page devoted to understanding the integrated guidance,
                     flight control and communications systems on the
                     Space Shuttle.

Technical References and Footnotes

  • Official NASA and Government Websites

  • Technical Report Search

  • Personal Websites

  • Websites on the Buran Space Shuttle

  • Mainstream Media News Outlets

  • Space News and Current Events Websites

  • Aviation History Websites

  • Technical Academic and Search Websites

  • HAARP Websites

  • Educational Websites

  • Documents from the Official STS-107 Investigation

  • Technical reports on hypersonic flight

  • Technical reports on aerodynamics

  • Documents on Thermal Protection System (TPS) design

  • Technical reports on Space Shuttle temperature extremes

  • Documents on Space Shuttle upgrades

  • Historical documents on the HAARP system

  • Technical report on the effects of EMP on electronics

  • Supplementary Pages:  Pages with information not directly connected to STS-107

  1. Past and present news stories on STS-107

  2. Current status of each Space Shuttle

  3. Columbia's most recent overhaul

  4. Reentry of the Buran space shuttle

  5. The history of HAARP

Columbia's Sacrifice Mission Statement 

The reasons for creating this website

bullet This site is not here for the sole purpose of disagreeing with the C.A.I.B.
or promoting any government conspiracy theories.   

02/20/2003

The purpose of this site is to stimulate scientific debate about what caused the loss of the space shuttle Columbia and her crew.  I was not involved in the space shuttle program and I am not a certified expert in any of the fields discussed on this site.  Further, I am restricted to using data and technical reports currently available on the internet and from main stream media sources.  For these reasons I do not believe that I can necessarily determine the exact cause of the shuttle disaster better than a team of certified experts who have access to the actual shuttle wreckage.  However, I have a degree in mechanical engineering and a great deal of experience determining failure modes of various mechanical and electronic systems.  I will be analyzing available data and technical reports for failure patterns or conflicts with established theories.  I am starting the analysis with an objective view and no clear or firm ideas as to the cause of the shuttle loss.  If I do post some theories, I plan to support them with whatever evidence I can find.  If you e-mail me with comments I will welcome all points of view and any data, even that which refutes any theories I have posted.  Although anything may be possible, I will not be posting any theories that involve the following, (extraterrestrial spacecraft, foreign or domestic conspiracies, supernatural events, or numerology (the adding of numbers such as dates, flight numbers etc.).  I believe that using the tragedy in this manner does a tremendous disservice to the memory of the seven astronauts who died, and can only serve to hurt their families further.  If reasonable evidence indicates that any of these theories should be debated I will then consider them for posting.

Addendum: 07/10/2004

The reason why it was felt at the time that debate about the incident needed to be stimulated is because the focus of the official investigation had been on the January 16th debris strike since the first hour after the reentry breakup event took place when the hastily written NASA press release had been handed to the news media.  Of course an expanded debate never took place and any mention of alternate causes took the form of perhaps a sentence or even paragraph within a news story about how the investigation into the debris strike was moving along.

This site was never intended to be what it currently has become.  As the Mission Statement above says, the only interest was in posting different theories and then studying the pros and cons of each.  As the number of discrepancies between what the raw data showed when it was analyzed here and the conclusions reached by the official investigation became more prominent, they finally could no longer be ignored.  Although Columbia's Sacrifice has been labeled as a conspiracy type of website, the number one rule followed when posting conclusions is that these findings be proven to a reasonable degree using available data and standard engineering methodology.  If something that has not been reasonably proven needs to be posted, it is always labeled as unproven.

The conclusions currently posted on this site are the best possible based on available data, known engineering practices and any input from readers who have written in with comments and criticism of past postings.  Columbia's Sacrifice is not and may never be a static finished document.  Any input received from readers may result in changes to what has been posted.  It is entirely possible that the currently posted final conclusion is completely wrong but some of the findings regarding the discrepancies between the official report and data analysis done here are still correct.  Readers are always encouraged to draw their own conclusions.

 

Copyright Notice

NOTE: This copyright notice applies to all pages under the domain, "www.columbiassacrifice.com"

Copying, posting, printing and distribution of this website as a whole or as complete unaltered sections where the meaning and intent of the material remains unchanged is encouraged and does not require permission.

 

Content protected by intellectual property laws:

Except for materials in the public domain, original text and image files including logos, icons and animations on this website containing the following copyright notice, are the property of ColumbiasSacrifice.com and are protected by copyright laws.

Copyright © 2003, 2004 ColumbiasSacrifice.com

Copying, distribution, display or posting of any protected materials on this website is prohibited, except for the purposes of fair use as defined in the copyright law, and as described below.  Technical reports used as research aids for this website are made available as complete unaltered documents on the download page along with their original source which is the Dryden Flight Center Technical Reports Server.

In addition the following tittles and or names are copyrighted and are the sole property of ColumbiasSacrifice.com whether or not they contain the copyright symbol.

ColumbiasSacrifice.com

Columbia's Sacrifice

The Final Descent of the Columbia

3rd Party Content:

This website contains text and graphics from 3rd parties.  The use of outside text and images on this site does not mean that the owner of that material condones or agrees with all or any of the statements made on these web pages.  Some images may be enhanced to clarify the content but should still express the original idea of the author.  All images are used with the express permission of the image owner if possible.  If the owner of an image notes its usage on this site when consent has not been given, and wish that corrections be made, please contact the webmaster immediately.

Fair use is permitted:

Fair use of copyrighted material includes the use of protected materials for non-commercial educational purposes, such as teaching, scholarship, research, criticism, commentary, and news reporting. Unless otherwise noted, users who wish to download or print text and image files from this website for such uses may do so without the express permission of ColumbiasSacrifice.com, provided that they comply with the following conditions.

  1. The content may only be used for personal, educational, informational or noncommercial purposes.

  2. Users are to send an e-mail containing the location where the content is posted and or published.

  3. None of the content may be altered or modified.

  4. Users must comply with all other terms or restrictions which may be applicable to the individual file, image, or text.

  5. All downloaded material must be accompanied by the complete legend, the copyright notice and by the URL of the page from which the material was downloaded and ColumbiasSacrifice.com cited.

Commercial use is restricted:

Unauthorized commercial publication or exploitation of text, images or content of this website is specifically prohibited.  Anyone wishing to use any of these files or images for commercial use, publication, or any purpose other than fair use as defined by law, must request and receive prior written permission from ColumbiasSacrifice.com.  Permission for such use is granted on a case-by-case basis at the sole discretion of ColumbiasSacrifice.com.  A usage fee may be assessed depending on the type and nature of the proposed use.
Copyright © 2003, 2004 ColumbiasSacrifice.com