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ing ridiculous. I swear.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050726/D8BJCRRO0.html
NASA Studies Debris Recorded During Launch
Jul 26, 7:57 PM (ET)
By JEFF DONN
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - In uneasy reminders of the Columbia accident, a thermal tile apparently got chipped and other debris whirled around Discovery as it rumbled toward space Tuesday, but it wasn't clear if the shuttle's sensitive skin had been jeopardized.
A 1 1/2-inch-wide bit of tile captured on camera appeared to fly off the shuttle's belly, on the edge of a door that encloses the nose landing gear. It was not clear if the tile had been struck by anything. Pieces of tile, which protect the shuttle from searing heat on return to Earth, have been lost on past flights without preventing a safe homecoming.
"We're going frame-by-frame through the imagery," said John Shannon, a NASA operations manager.
Also, NASA video revealed what appeared to be a sizable piece of material - maybe a chunk of insulation - coming off the shuttle's external fuel tank two minutes into flight. It did not strike the orbiter that carries the seven astronauts, the NASA manager said. Other agency footage showed covers flying off Discovery's thrusters - something expected to happen.
NASA managers said they would take several days to make a full judgment of any damage to the shuttle and decide how to deal with it.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is seeing more of the impact of launch on the shuttle than ever before, thanks to its most elaborate array of cameras and other imaging in history. "I fully expected we would see things that we hadn't seen in the past," said Shannon.
NASA trained more than 110 cameras on Discovery as it rumbled toward orbit. That's roughly 30 more than during the last shuttle launch - Columbia's 2003 mission that killed all seven astronauts and grounded the fleet until now.
The new cameras are meant to provide better views of damage to the shuttle's exterior from falling insulation, ice created by supercold fuel, or other materials. "Along with cameras on the ground, and in and on the shuttle itself, this imaging system will provide an unprecedented look at shuttle liftoff and atmospheric flight," said Bob Page, who is supervising NASA's camera team.
NASA wants to avoid a repeat of the Columbia mission, when a slab of insulating foam gashed its wing as it hurtled toward orbit. Mission ground crew suspected the strike, but blurry images made it hard to judge damage, investigators said.
For this launch, cameras were posted at new sites to track Discovery's launch from three angles. NASA set up new high-definition digital video cameras that can load images into the computer at the Kennedy Space Center launch site within 15 minutes of liftoff.
A camera on Discovery's giant external fuel tank also gave an unprecedented look at the shuttle's whole ascent. The astronauts then took digital pictures as the jettisoned tank tumbled back toward Earth.
In an experiment, two weather planes with crew in pressurized suits - for flight above 50,000 feet - shadowed the shuttle 20 miles away and captured high-al ude digital images through a telescope.
"It's a real expensive video game trying to keep the shuttle ... in the field of view," said crewman Brian Barnett.
Almost 90 impact sensors on the shuttle's wings, as well as radar, were arrayed to back up the pictures taken during liftoff.
Spy satellites were to photograph the shuttle later in the mission. The crew of the international space station will take pictures of the shuttle tiles when the craft approaches later in the week.
About 100 analysts at Kennedy, Johnson and Marshall space centers have been assigned to study the shuttle pictures and help decide if it was seriously damaged by any debris.
While the high-definition video can be viewed quickly, analysts must wait about a day for the first delivery of film, which gives the sharpest pictures.
NASA did not expect to eliminate all debris from shuttle liftoffs, despite its safety improvements. If dangerous damage has occurred, the astronauts can take temporary refuge inside the space station, and another shuttle crew could be sent up on a rescue mission.
Last edited by CaptainHook; 07-26-2005 at 08:11 PM.
ing ridiculous. I swear.
There should be quite a few people watching this shuttle descend.
anyone know the $$ cost of a spacewalk to get a human eye view of this missing tile??
This space program is the biggest waste of tax dollars. Actually, it's second to the war.
amen.
to me the space program is an "extra" that you spend $$ on when you've allready put aside for savings and still have some extra dough.
there are plenty of things in the US that could really really use the $$ we spend on the space program. (health care etc.) I have no problem with space exploratiojn itself... but i think we should hold off on stuff like that till after we've handled some other things.
It's like guys who live with thier momma in a shoddy littel house but have 5k worth of rims on thier mazda. Meanwhile wearing sean john and timberlands and can't pay the rent. UGHHHH. thast basically the US spending $$ we ain't got on space.
Well, thats all bull . Sorry, but the amount the US spends on scientific research (thats not military related) is miniscule when compared to the bull we spend money on all the time.
The space program is very warranted, even if the shuttle missions aren't.
Debris falls off the Shuttle EVERY launch so this is no big deal.
Next time you all about your satellite TV going down you'll Thank the space program.
Sad but true, being in the biotechnology field, I've heard from EVERY SINGLE professor, supervisor, or mentor I've had that if we could just get funding for certain studies, we would have cures for many prominent (and at this moment incurable) dieases. To be honest, funding (or lack there of) is the most aggravating part of any aspect in the biotech. field.Well, thats all bull . Sorry, but the amount the US spends on scientific research (thats not military related) is miniscule when compared to the bull we spend money on all the time.
If only the cures would be for the benefit of mankind and not the benefit of the large drug companies.
Debris don't fall of on every launch. I'd love to see information supporting that.
I'm not sure anyone who has a clue about about science and research can say that NASA is a waste of money.
But I guess y'all gotta have something to about...
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/0...tle/index.html
I guess it is more common then we think."We did not come into this flight expecting to eliminate" all falling debris, he said at an evening news briefing at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. "But we knew that we had the tools available to us to characterize it."
Shannon said space shuttles have been known to shed tiles without safety consequences.
Because of the additional photography, "I fully expected we would see things we hadn't seen in the past," he said, describing the liftoff overall as "extremely clean."
I'm still waiting for information that says debris falls of everytime.
The space program is important. The shuttle program is a joke. One of the benefits of the space program is innovation. What has been innovative on the shuttle in the last 30 years? NASA is a bloated bureaucracy that needs a swift kick in the pants.
BBC articleAlthough the space shuttles have been showered by small pieces of debris thousands of times during the 24 years that they have been flying, Nasa can no longer naively close its eyes to the possibility of danger.
if this space ship blows up on the way down too, i think its conspiracy
trying to shut off the space program by making us scared (who woulda thought they used that tactic)
That doesn't say everytime. Also, a source directly from the shuttle program would be better than an article that just throws out numbers without backing. ( More importantly, debris does not hit the tiles everytime. Trying to trivialize what happend yesterday by providing false information is idiocy. While I'm not saying that the shuttle won't be able to safely return, I think there is real concern here.
I'm not trying to trivialize anything, but a realistic assessment is that the shuttle is struck routinely by all sorts of objects. Dust in the air, pieces of insulation foam, ice crystals, etc.
What if they hit a bird? That is something that should have been examined well beforehand.
Dust in the air is not debris. Give me a break!
SWC, the main fuel tank did sustain a bird strike on this launch. I don't have time to find the pic on the internet, but I know it is out there if you look.
The it ain't! You ride through a cloud of large dust particles on a motorcycle, and then imagine that going several times the speed of sound.
I guess sandblasters just "magically" knock crap off of rusty parts.
Thanks, 1369, I'll look for it.
One of the design groups in my senior design class at A&M got to design improved "chicken cannons" to simulate an in-air strike of birds by commercial jet aircraft.
The dust content of the air is hardly enough to damage the shuttle.
I think the main concern here is debris falling onto the heat tiles.
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