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Detail of two vaguely round areas where the char layer has been removed on one side of the nose cone.

I would expect engineers to remove portions of the char layer to determine how deep it is (thereby determining the remaining thickness of undamaged ablative material), although it's hard to say whether these areas were removed by the engineers, flaked off during the test, or were removed by untold years of curious visitors.

 
Test Nose Cone with post-flight samples removed at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center
Time picture taken Thu Jan 19 10:20:36 2012
Location picture taken Marshall Visitor Center Area
"Old" Museum
U.S. Space & Rocket Center
Huntsville, AL
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