> why it took a decade and $70m to replicate the foam
In fact, if I'm thinking of the right foam here (codename FOGBANK, believed to be a lithium deuteride aerogel), the problem was even worse. There was a contaminant in one of the original raw materials (acetonitrile, if memory serves) that turned out to be essential to the whole process working. But nobody in the original program knew this contaminant was even present, much less its importance, so of course they didn't document it. Not explicit knowledge, not tacit knowledge, just an unfinished R&D job.
In fact, if I'm thinking of the right foam here (codename FOGBANK, believed to be a lithium deuteride aerogel), the problem was even worse. There was a contaminant in one of the original raw materials (acetonitrile, if memory serves) that turned out to be essential to the whole process working. But nobody in the original program knew this contaminant was even present, much less its importance, so of course they didn't document it. Not explicit knowledge, not tacit knowledge, just an unfinished R&D job.