RN7 your neighbors brother is incorrect in his assumption - we were never pressured to make that change - there were changes over the years to save weight and to make the panels more efficient but not for environmental reasons.
Frankly impact on the einvironment was very low on NASA's list when I was on the program and still is today.
Those shuttles for instance had cad plated fasteners on them - and as bad as they were for the environment they stayed cad plated. Let alone what was used in the solid rocket boosters for fuel.
There was always a concern with those leading edge panels for an impact like that - that was one reason we had to remove things like rings and such when we were working near the tiles and leading edges - they were easily cracked by impact - and that piece of foam was moving very fast when it struck the wing
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