Well, I read the BBC piece, and its not clear to me (at least given what was in the BBC piece) that it decisively shows anything other then what we already know: Namely that some bit of Foam or Foam+Ice or Ice impregnated Foam (or...) struck the left wing during ascent. It does not show that this was what caused the terminal damage.

You may be right.... In fact I think the odds are in your favor... I agree that we know the left wing failed and we know that the left wing got hit by foam and/or ice, but it is at least *possible* that there is a disparate or maybe just a concurrent cause in addition to the Foam that is yet to be discovered.

Frankly, that orbiter was pretty 'heavy' with full crew and a science payload, and it was coming down into Northern Hemisphere winter in the pre-dawn morning (cooler, denser air... maybe more stress on damaged tiles? Does this even matter at altitude?). I wonder if maybe it will turn out to be a number of factors working together rather then a few pieces of 'smoking Foam'?

Davin L.