Hi allI

Well if it knocked the Space shuttle out of the sky, maybe they have the two types of lighting mis-labeled hehe.

LOL!!! :-lol

If the lighning incenerated the Space Shuttle, you most likley will be studying that type! I remember reading about the type of lightning in a book about weather, it had photos of all 4 types. The blue/red is the coolest I think. So if the lightning was the cause of the Colombia incedent, then what can NASA do about it?

Other than putting something on the shuttle which absorbs the power from the bolt, or protecting the craft in special material, I don't really know....NASA denied it was the cause, and put the sprite on the photo down to a foreign object in the camera, but the scientists recording proved them wrong.http://www.onlinesimulationsolutions.com/will/sig.jpghttp://www.onlinesimulationsolutions.com/Athlon 64 3000, 19dba Zalman CPU fan, MSI K8T-NEO, 1GB PC3200 DDR400, HIS Excalibur 9800 Pro 128mb, 60GB HD.Trainee Airline Pilot (Completing PPL, starting ATPL this year).

I still think that the cause of the shuttle break up was indeed what NASA said it was, we have seen the pictures of the foam hitting the leading edge and upon re-entry the super heated gas would cause massive structural damage and therefore a break up. I have watched many of these science shows and the views of the shows scientists and producers are given as fact when in this case the chain of evidence leads to the conclusion that NASA came up with. You have the foam hitting the wing, then on re-entry you incrementally lose sensing units on that wing, then you have the autopilot trying to fix the flight path, then break up, it all fits and introducing this idea of another cause just does not fit with the whole scenario. I know that these shows can be quite convincing as I often find myself questioning what I think I know about science. I am not putting you down here but I just want to point out that just because a scientist says something it is no more fact than if a "normal" person said it. These are his ideas but I am afraid that the data just does not back it up in this case. Always question anything that is presented a fact because what it boils down to usually is that it is just someone's opinion. On the other hand I am going to look into these claims to see if maybe there is something to this but on the surface it seems unlikely. Again I am not attacking you but pointing out that this may be a bunch of bull stuff. Philip Olsonhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg

I don't know much about the whole thing, but what I am almost certain of is that we will never know why the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up. Sure NASA thinks it was foam, but it could have been aliens shooting down the space shuttle with a plasma ray for all we know.

Sprites are pretty amazing--I've seen many videos of them. I'd be scared to death if in the near future a Captain said "We will be climbing to FL800 to climb over the storms enroute" No way I'll fly over a Meso. I suspect one of those Sprites would resequence my DNA, minimum. :)But I can say with 100 pct. certainty the shuttle wasn't brought down by one. The shuttle started breaking up long before communication was lost with it. Aside from the visual confirmation that it was hit with foam, and the visual recreation of the consequence of such a strike, imagine something with the power of a Sprite hitting the shuttle. It would have zapped communication at a minimum.But it raises some interesting questions--with the heat NASA had to take for this disaster, how much would they try to surface alternate theories? Can't blame a Sprite on anyone..... -John

I don't belive the sprite was the cause of it either, but we could be wrong, you just never know with things like this. Resequence you DNA, huh? THAT would be a sight to see! :-lol I wonder if Sprites have ever damaged anything, like a sensitive satellite, or recon aircraft?