NASA To Embed Sensors In Shuttle Wings

NASA To Embed Sensors In Shuttle Wings
Sensors To Determine Whether Leading Edges Of Wings Are Damaged

POSTED: 2:42 PM EST December 11, 2003
UPDATED: 2:48 PM EST December 11, 2003

SPACE CENTER, Houston. -- Taking a lesson from the Columbia disaster,
NASA plans to embed high-tech sensors in the wings of the three
remaining space shuttles to detect any blows from debris, an oversight
panel said Thursday.

The sensors will determine whether the leading edges of the wings were
hit, but not the degree of damage, said Joseph Cuzzupoli, a Kistler
Aerospace Corp. vice president who is part of the return-to-flight
task force.

The extent of damage would still have to be determined by an
inspection in orbit, using an extension boom equipped with cameras and
lasers.

"It's just a tool that helps us to know and gives us a feeling that
something hit it," said Cuzzupoli, who worked on both the Apollo and
shuttle programs for the former Rockwell International.

Inspecting the outside of an orbiting shuttle will be difficult,
Cuzzupoli said, and knowing where debris struck will save time and
reduce risk of, say, banging the boom against the shuttle and damaging
it.

The sensors have never been used on a shuttle before. They would
detect blows from debris during launch and later in flight as well,
Cuzzupoli said.

Cuzzupoli and other members of the NASA-appointed task force charged
with overseeing return-to-flight activities held their second public
meeting on Thursday.

They said NASA is making progress on all the recommendations put forth
by the Columbia accident investigators. But they stressed the space
agency is still developing a repair kit for the reinforced carbon
panels that line the edges of the wings, and it is also struggling
with the software needed for the inspection boom.

NASA's latest target for resuming shuttle flights is next fall. The
independent task force was assembled by NASA last summer to help the
space agency meet the Columbia investigators' recommendations for
returning to flight.

The Columbia Accident Investigation Board determined that the disaster
was caused by a a piece of foam insulation that broke off the external
fuel tank during liftoff last January and smashed into the leading
edge of the shuttle's left wing.

Engineers did not know the shuttle had been hit by a chunk of foam
until they reviewed footage of the launch a day later. No one had a
clear idea of the severity of the damage before the spacecraft broke
apart over Texas during re-entry on Feb. 1. All seven astronauts were
killed.

- Associated Press

http://www.local6.com/news/2699302/detail.html

So, what form do these sensors take? Presumably some form of vibration
monitor that can spot the diff between normal vibrations and a clout by
something as a transient spike of some sort.

As for on orbit repair, well, I'm not so sure that this can be done. Looks
to me like the way the leading edge has been designed relies on precision
manufactured parts, and hastily fashioned hole blockers simply would not
work.

Best plan is to stop the damage in the first place. Brian

--
Brian Gaff....
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
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"Brian Gaff" wrote ...
So, what form do these sensors take? Presumably some form of vibration
monitor that can spot the diff between normal vibrations and a clout by
something as a transient spike of some sort.

As for on orbit repair, well, I'm not so sure that this can be done. Looks
to me like the way the leading edge has been designed relies on precision
manufactured parts, and hastily fashioned hole blockers simply would not
work.

Best plan is to stop the damage in the first place. Brian

What would it take to have a free-flying 'lifeboat', with limited orbital
manoeuvre capability, stationed in a suitable orbital plane for all the non-ISS
shuttle missions?

If it isn't greatly more than a station-based system (presumably you could
get a fair amount of over-lap) it might not be a terrible idea.

What would it take to have a free-flying 'lifeboat', with limited orbital
manoeuvre capability, stationed in a suitable orbital plane for all the
non-ISS
shuttle missions?

Better to move hubble into a more ISS friendly orbit.

Although a rescue craft docked at ISS would be very useful for all sorts of
jobs.

Today if a shuttle has a manuvering failuree it could go right past ISS and
nothing could be done for the crew, let alone the vehicle.

In article , Paul Blay wrote:

What would it take to have a free-flying 'lifeboat', with limited orbital
manoeuvre capability, stationed in a suitable orbital plane for all
the non-ISS shuttle missions?

Remember, "all non-ISS shuttle missions" is... um... well, one in 2006
(STS-124) which is still liable to not happen, and the sketched-in HST
retrieval/deorbit in ~2009, and it's even bets on whether Shuttle will
still be flying let alone flying that mission.

There's other impracticalities, but "it's a bit overkill" seems a good
start... ;-)

--
-Andrew Gray

"Brian Gaff" wrote in
:

So, what form do these sensors take?

Small accelerometers, for the most part, scattered across the wing.


--
JRF

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check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and
think one step ahead of IBM.

From: (Hallerb)

Better to move hubble into a more ISS friendly orbit.


Your ignorance of orbital mechanics is showing.

Better to move hubble into a more ISS friendly orbit.


Your ignorance of orbital mechanics is showing.

I didnt mean a formation flying or anything like that. I was thinking of a
flying lifeboat that could live docked at ISS but have the capability of
visiting hubble for service or be used as a rescue service in orbit craft. In
case the shuttle or other vehicle has a problem.

Ideally it could be a capsule like system ala apollo with a service module for
in orbit operations and emergency de oprbit capabilties.

Hallerb wrote:

Your ignorance of orbital mechanics is showing.


I didnt mean a formation flying or anything like that. I was thinking of a
flying lifeboat that could live docked at ISS but have the capability of
visiting hubble for service or be used as a rescue service in orbit craft. In
case the shuttle or other vehicle has a problem.

Your ignorance is still showing.

Paul

(Hallerb) writes:
Better to move hubble into a more ISS friendly orbit.

Your ignorance of orbital mechanics is showing.

I didnt mean a formation flying or anything like that. I was thinking of a
flying lifeboat that could live docked at ISS but have the capability of
visiting hubble for service or be used as a rescue service in orbit craft. In
case the shuttle or other vehicle has a problem.

Doesn't matter---it takes a *huge* amount of fuel to move an object
from one orbital inclination to another, about half as much delta V as
it took to get the HST up in the first place (if my quick napkin
estimate is at all right). And the HST and ISS are at
different altitudes as well, but that's a smaller issue.

--
Richard W Kaszeta

http://www.kaszeta.org/rich