Re: Bigelow launch vehicle mistake

In article <1141834398.970439.274940@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
<ianparker2@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Maybe, and maybe not. The leading-edge panel on Columbia, which shattered
when the foam hit it, was carbon-carbon. Light and heat-resistant, okay;
but robust and durable? That matters too.

Filament type materials like carbon fiber would be both strong and heat
resistant.

Uh, the first "carbon" in "carbon-carbon" stands for carbon fiber. The
fibers in traditional carbon-carbon aren't as good as today's structural
carbon fiber, but it's a difference in degree, not kind.

The hard part about "filament type materials" is that you need to glue the
"filaments" together somehow. The usual resins used for that are not
particularly heat-resistant.
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