I've often wondered if there was some repair the Columbia crew could have done. Anything that the hole could have been stuffed with? What about pulling a tile off of a less critical section, shaping it, and putting it in the hole?
Post-Columbia there was some examination of repair options that could have been used if the crew had known about the damage. Some engineers considered it feasible to repair the hole in the wing using material scavenged from Columbia [1] but this was apparently considered very high-risk. The shuttle re-entered at Mach 25 and the leading-edges of the wings were made from titanium because of the extreme thermal and aerodynamic stresses they were subject to, so stuffing a tile (assuming it could be removed, which would have been unlikely) into the hole wouldn't have helped at all.
Some repair techniques and tools were developed part of the process of returning the shuttle fleet to flight after the loss of Columbia. These included a caulk-gun to allow in-situ repairs to thermal tiles [2] and a device for plugging holes in leading surfaces such as the wings. These were tested in space but were never needed.
An interesting article. I wonder what tools the crew had available for working metal. Even hand tools would suffice, given the 30 days to work on it. The idea of holding things in place with ice doesn't seem viable to me, ice would melt really fast. I'd go for screws, rivets, bending and hammering, etc., to get a mechanical connection.
Basically, just pile on enough metal so that there'll be just enough left as the rest of it burned away.
I was wondering about repairs the whole time I read that article. It's fun to think about sending up a rescue vehicle, but I would think attempting repairs would be easier and that wasn't really talked about in the article.
