From: Paul@Hovnanian.com   
      
   Rodney Kelp wrote:   
   >   
   > Maybe if they squirted halon between the tiles it would eliminate the O2 and   
   > extinquish the friction fire.   
      
    There really isn't a fire on the exterior of the shuttle in the sense   
   that combustion is occurring. The friction simply heats the outer skin   
   (tiles) and the adjacent atmosphere to a temperature where they become   
   incandescent. So there really isn't anything to extinguish.   
      
   As far as introducing some sort of coolant into the skin, you'd have to   
   determine the amount of heat generated. A good estimate is that all of   
   the shuttle's kinetic energy is converted into heat at the skin   
   interface (some is lost to shock waves, etc.). Then, given the specific   
   heat of various coolants, calculate how many tons of coolant you'd have   
   to haul up at launch and throughout the mission in order to cool the   
   skin.   
      
   The shuttle is cooled by transferring the heat of friction to the   
   surrounding atmosphere which carries it away. Air is already up there so   
   there's no need to carry it along on the flight.   
      
   --   
   Paul Hovnanian     mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com   
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