This is the In-flight Crew Escape System (ICES) as mentioned above, and demonstrated more-or-less realistically in the otherwise absurd Clint Eastwood film, Space Cowboys. Nobody believes that it is of any practical use, but it satisfied the Rogers Commission and United States House Committee on Science, Space and Technology recommendations to “take measures” to improve crew response to an abort level anomaly, and was the only practical measure short of a complete redesign of the Orbiter crew cabin.
It seemed plain to me that Machine Elf was using the phrase “blow up” colloquially – that is, to sacrifice the Orbiter through whatever procedure. I certainly was.
The is no practicable means of “sacrificing” an already out of control Orbiter Vehicle–whether by explosive ordnance, incendiary charges, separation mechanisms, et cetera–that will not result in greater hazard due to dispersal of large pieces of debris. As I explained previously and, I thought clearly, even if the vehicle were projected to land in a heavily populated area, the preference would still be to bring it down as a single body to localize the hazard to people and structures on the ground. The mass of the vehicle doesn’t simply disappear regardless of how you “sacrifice” it.
