Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[dave_s]

One of the big risks with a tile loss is the potential aerodynamic impingement and lift of downstream tiles. Thus the tiles can start to come off like a zipper.

Also, the separation induced free jet of the hypersonic boundary layer can strart to melt the metal structure under the tiles. The sequence of events possible suggests a melting induced hull rupture during the critical portion of re-entry.