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ZL2VAL > SPACE 12.10.03 01:33l 114 Lines 4893 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 7618-ZL2VAL
Read: DK7TD
Subj: Upgrades may allow night launch
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From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : SPACE@WW
NASA plans chase planes, better cameras
By Todd Halvorson <mailto:thalvorson@flatoday.net>
FLORIDA TODAY
October 8, 2003
CAPE CANAVERAL -- High-flying chase planes, along with enhanced
camera and imagery analysis systems, eventually might enable NASA to
stage shuttle liftoffs at night again, opening up more chances to
launch space station construction missions.
That was the word Wednesday as NASA officials at Kennedy Space
Center detailed plans to improve the agency's capability to detect
and analyze the type of launch debris strike that triggered the Feb.
1 Columbia accident.
"We're all looking at how do we support the night launches and step
back up to being able to fly at night," said Robert Page, chief of a
NASA group responsible for capturing and analyzing shuttle launch
film, video and still photographs.
The agency is "extremely hopeful" that the improvements would enable
NASA to lift new restrictions that limit shuttle launches to
daylight hours, he added.
The new rules also limit launches to times when the shuttle's
15-story external tank would be jettisoned on the sunlit side of Earth.
The restrictions are meant to ensure NASA can capture sharp images
of any debris that could break free from the shuttle and damage the
ship in flight.
But at the same time, they eliminate launch opportunities during six
months of every year. That will hinder NASA's efforts to complete
construction of the International Space Station, a $100 billion
project that involves 16 nations. Accident investigators blamed the
Columbia disaster on a 1.7-pound chunk of foam insulation that fell
off the shuttle's external tank 81 seconds after its Jan. 16 launch.
The foam struck the leading edge of the shuttle's left wing,
creating a fatal breach that allowed hot gases to tear the ship
apart during an ill-fated re-entry.
Investigators found NASA's analysis of the deadly debris hit was
hampered by a lack of high-speed, high-resolution cameras.
Among other things, they recommended NASA upgrade its launch imaging
system to provide "a minimum of three useful views" of the shuttle
from liftoff through separation of its solid rocket boosters two
minutes into flight.
They ordered NASA to delay future launches if any of those cameras
aren't working properly prior to liftoff. And they urged the agency
to consider using ships or aircraft to provide additional views of
the shuttle as its climbs toward orbit.
NASA now is in the midst of upgrading existing ground cameras as
well as those that fly aboard shuttles. The agency also plans to add
extra cameras on the ground as well as on the shuttle's external
tank and solid rocket boosters.
For the first time, NASA is adding high-definition television
cameras to its network of ground imagery assets. The agency also is
opening a new high-tech imagery analysis laboratory.
NASA is still assessing how much all the improvements will cost,
Page said.
But the agency already has invested $3.2 million in the computerized
lab, which will enable engineers to digitize launch film. Doing so
will create sharper views as well as the ability to zoom in on
images for closer analysis. Lab equipment also provides the
capability to simultaneously analyze launch views from different
angles.
"It's an unbelievable system," said Armando Oliu, head of KSC's
imagery analysis team.
The prospect for a return to night launches, meanwhile, might hinge
on the use of high-altitude research aircraft as chase planes during
shuttle ascents to orbit.
Page said NASA now plans to employ two camera-toting NASA WB-57F
aircraft to image the forward portion of the vehicle during the
agency's first two post-Columbia missions in September and November
2004.
Bright shuttle exhaust plumes during night launches obscure ground
camera views of that area of the shuttle, which is the most
susceptible to shedding debris in flight.
"We'll fly those aircraft up there and see how the images look and
see whether that can help us," Page said. "We'll just have to see
what the data tells us."
==============================
73 de Alan
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