Yeah now i see from the slow-mo that the aerodynamic shell got ruptured, but it's no big deal, it's obviously not designed to handle any loads from INSIDE.
And this: "[G]radual wearing away of the vehicle’s skin as it reached stress tolerance limits was expected. However, larger than anticipated portions of the vehicle’s skin peeled from the aerostructure."
Not a rocket scientist, but using a car analogy, this sounds like the engine block vented gases and blew off the hood of the car, while the engine block itself received no damage.
I can't imagine an exoskeleton vehicle would have fared any better. That was one of my biggest concerns - would a dented side panel count as frame damage?
Hmm. It’s unclear whether an engine failure is weighted equally against a loose interior plastic panel. Is that comparison clear to anyone else reading?
I'm curious about the nature of the damage. article mentions that the affected mirror will be adjusted to minimize the distortion that was introduced, so obviously not a crack. So, more like a tiny scratch? It's hard for me to conceptualize the impact of hypersonic dust on a mirror
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