Re: NASA Develops Wireless Tile Scanner for Space Shuttle Inspection

Tea pots?

Now there is a concept.

More tea vicar, oops, sorry wrong pot!

Brian

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Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: briang1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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<baalke@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1186520915.351731.302440@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aug. 7, 2007

Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-4769
katherine.trinidad@xxxxxxxx

John Bluck
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
650-604-5026
john.g.bluck@xxxxxxxx

RELEASE: 07-171

NASA DEVELOPS WIRELESS TILE SCANNER FOR SPACE SHUTTLE INSPECTION

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. - A new space shuttle tile inspection method
using NASA-built, wireless scanners is replacing manual inspection.
The new process begins with the upcoming shuttle mission, STS-118.
Endeavour is scheduled to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in
Florida on Wednesday, Aug. 8 at 6:36 p.m. EDT.

Technicians have been using six new scanners to look for cracks and
other imperfections in some of the 24,000 tiles that cover space
shuttle Endeavour. The agency designed and built the new tools at
NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. In the past,
workers at Kennedy visually analyzed tiles and measured dings and
cracks with small hand-held scales.

"The new method is much faster and more accurate because the depth
and
volume measurements of the flaws and their locations are wirelessly
transmitted into a computer database," said Joe Lavelle, a senior
engineer and project manager at Ames. "This tool allows the
inspectors to determine with very high confidence whether a shuttle
tile needs to be replaced or just repaired."

"When they made the measurements manually with the scales, they had
to
estimate the volume of flaws to a worst-case value because they could
not precisely measure the volume with any accuracy," Lavelle
explained. "With this scanner, they will actually save tiles and the
time-consuming process of replacing them."

The thermal tiles on the space shuttle protect it from the extreme
heat generated during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. After
each shuttle lands, technicians go through a very rigorous and
lengthy process to assess the surface of the tiles for any damage.

Each scanner weighs approximately 2.9 pounds and is about the size
and
shape of a small teapot. Technicians place the machine on the tile's
flaw to scan it. In about three seconds, the data are computerized
and archived.

Engineers can scrutinize computerized 3-D pictures of the flaws. The
images show the length, width and depth of the flaws on the surface
of the tiles. Although engineers designed the instrument to scan
space shuttle tiles, it also could scan reinforced carbon-carbon
material used on the leading edges of the shuttle's wings.

Engineers developing a heat shield system for NASA's new spaceship
Orion already are using a larger, desktop version of the scanner to
study heat shield samples tested at Ames. NASA is building a second
desktop scanner for use at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The unit should be completed in about two months.

For high-resolution images of the scanner, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/news/wireless_scanner.html

For more information and the space shuttle and upcoming mission,
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle


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