Shuttle Wings To Get Sensors
NASA plans to embed wings of the three remaining space shuttles with high-tech sensors to detect blows from debris.
But a member of an oversight panel said Thursday that the sensors would be unable to determine damage caused by strikes.
The extent of damage would need to be determined by astronauts in orbit, using an extension boom equipped with cameras and lasers, said Joseph Cuzzupoli, a Kistler Aerospace Corp. vice president who is part of the task force set up to get the program back to space following the Columbia tragedy last February.
The sensors would be linked to an on-board computer and notify astronauts of where the debris strike occurred, saving time and the risk of causing additional damage. However, such sensors have never been used on a shuttle, he said Thursday.
"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.
Information obtained by the sensors would be relayed instantly to flight controllers who would monitor strikes throughout the mission, including lift off when a piece of foam insulation broke off Columbia's external fuel tank 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.
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board determined the disaster, which killed all seven astronauts, resulted from the foam strike.
NASA's latest target for resuming shuttle flights is next September or October. NASA assembled the independent task force last summer to help the space agency meet the Columbia investigators' recommendations for returning to flight.
Another task force member, Sy Rubenstein, an aerospace consultant who helped design the shuttle, said installing the sensors is not a requirement for resuming shuttle flights. But he anticipates NASA will complete the work in time for the next launch.
The task force held its second public meeting on Thursday, sharing the progress made so far on each of the recommendations put forth by the Columbia accident investigators. But the panel stressed the space agency is still trying to develop a repair kit for the reinforced carbon panels that line the edges of the wings, and also struggling with computer software needed for the inspection boom.
Both the carbon repair kit and boom are required for the resumption of flights. The leading candidate for carbon repair kit seems to be a sort of wrap, the task force said.