frank wrote:

Interestingly, there was a branch of expertise in looking at re entry
plumes on RVs.


Run the light emitted from the reentry plume through a spectroscope, and
you can tell what the chemical components that make up the ablative RV
heatshield are.
I'm not completly sure that that is the case, but it's my best, and most
humble, guess.
....okay...**** humbleness...that's _exactly_ why you would do that. :-D

Pat

Pat


Pat