A MATERIAL designed to patch cracks in the leading edge of a space shuttle’s wing, while it is in orbit, has passed its first tests. It is a significant milestone in NASA’s bid to return the shuttle to flight following the Columbia disaster last year.
The leading edges of the shuttle’s wings are protected from the heat of re-entry to the Earth’s atmosphere by panels of reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) composite. The material can withstand temperatures of more than 1600 °C for the 15 minutes of re-entry. But the panels are thin and brittle, and if they become damaged they are much more difficult to patch than…
