Minor Damage Found On Space Shuttle

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Minor Damage Found On Space Shuttle

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday May 12, 2009 @08:53PM from the just-don't-chip-the-other-one dept.

The BBC is reporting on minor damage to the space shuttle Atlantis revealed by a 10-hour inspection in orbit. On the shuttle's right side, near where the wing joins the body, inspection revealed a 21" (53cm) line of chips in the tiles that make up the vehicle's heat shield. "...more analysis by engineers would determine whether a 'focused inspection' was needed in that specific area. If so, astronauts would use sensors to determine the exact depth of the damage to the heat shield tiles. NASA has placed the space shuttle Endeavour on stand-by to rescue the crew of Atlantis if they are endangered." The crew couldn't shelter on the ISS in case of trouble, because their orbit is higher and on a different inclination.

9 of 233 comments (clear)

So what happens.... by zonky · 2009-05-12 20:56 · Score: 5, Interesting

.. if they launch Endeavour to rescue Atlantis, and Endeavour suffers damage at launch?
1. Re:So what happens.... by Anonymous Coward · 2009-05-12 21:29 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  The astronauts pile into the less damaged orbiter and come home in it.
  
  Then, they get home and buy Powerball tickets, because those kinds of odds are nearly as good as winning. The Shuttle has more or less always sustained some tile damage during launch; its heat shield is replaced after every launch as it wasn't designed to be perfect (well, it originally closer to perfect when it was to be built of solid titanium, but plans change...) The damage turned out to be a significant player in Columbia's loss, as it happened that the part of the shield that was damaged was extremely critical to the proper functioning of that area.
  
  OTOH, here we see an almost pristine heat shield. The damage is long, but it's very narrow, likely caused by a single piece of falling debris striking in multiple locations. This isn't going to prevent them from coming home in Atlantis.
Re:doh. by earlymon · 2009-05-12 21:03 · Score: 5, Informative

Roger that.
FWIW, you can get a lot of mission info while it happens, even if you don't have satellite TV - http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

--
Pathological kinda promises Path + Logical - but instead, you get stuck with pathetic.
Re:Getting to ISS by thhamm · 2009-05-12 21:03 · Score: 5, Informative

i guess it's not just dropping to another altitude. it's about changing the orbital plane, for which they don't have enough fuel.
Not a concern - More info here by Maddog+Batty · 2009-05-12 21:16 · Score: 5, Informative

More info here: http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts125/090512fd2/index5.html
"And Scooter, also I've got some good news about the tile damage that we saw on the starboard chine area earlier today," astronaut Alan Poindexter radioed from mission control shortly after 8 p.m.
"Oh, I'm looking forward to that. Go ahead," replied shuttle commander Scott "Scooter" Altman.
"It turns out that a focussed inspection of that area on the starboard chine is not going to be required," Poindexter reported.
"All right, you've got some happy EVA campers on that," Altman said.

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wot no sig
1. Re:Not a concern - More info here by dzfoo · 2009-05-13 00:39 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  "And Scooter, also I've got some good news about the tile damage that we saw on the starboard chine area earlier today," astronaut Alan Poindexter radioed from mission control shortly after 8 p.m.
  "Oh, I'm looking forward to that. Go ahead," replied shuttle commander Scott "Scooter" Altman.
  "It turns out that a focussed inspection of that area on the starboard chine is not going to be required," Poindexter reported.
  "All right, you've got some happy EVA campers on that," Altman said.
  "Yeah, don't worry about the inspection, you don't have to go out, really.", Poindexter continued, "and, uh, whatever you guys do, don't look out the window."
  "Copy tha--er what??" replied Commander Altman.
  "Right, just... focus on the mission. Oh hey, Altam, your wife is here, she'd like to say goodb--uh, hello."
  
  --
  Carol vs. Ghost
  ...Can you save Christmas?
Re:Getting to ISS by Maddog+Batty · 2009-05-12 21:48 · Score: 5, Informative

So what makes you such an expert?
Nasa experts have looked into all of these issues and potential solutions.
A mere couple of hundred miles is not a problem (you do know how fast the shuttle flies don't you?) Orbital mechanics is the problem. The fuel required for the shuttle to change orbits would weigh too much for it to get off the ground in the first place.
The risks have been very carefully considered, with the mission ruled out of safety grounds for a long time. Yes, they are pushing the risks on this mission but having a back up shuttle on the pad ready to lift off in three days (you do know about this don't you?) mitigates some of the risks. That together with other changes they have made have kept the risks of a catastrophic failure below the limit set for every mission.

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wot no sig
Re:What would happen to Atlantis? by EvanED · 2009-05-12 21:50 · Score: 5, Informative

I read some article that said it was the latter -- putting it into a suicide path into the ocean.
See this AP article:

In the event of an abandoned ship, Atlantis would be given self-destruct instructions, to ensure it would not fall back to Earth in a populous area.
NASA, said Jeffs, would direct it into landing maneuvers to crash somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
Re:Why can't you land it by remote/autopilot? by vlm · 2009-05-12 23:34 · Score: 5, Informative

I think the best solution would be if Atlantis could be brought back by autopilot. If the damage is marginal (that is they THINK it might destroy the shuttle but are not sure) then bringing it back unmanned would give you the possibility (if the damage is survivable) of recouping your billion dollar plus investment.
Won't work. The landing spots are generally near the takeoff spots. The takeoff spots were located so if it blows up on takeoff, the parts rain down on the dolphins and whales. Unfortunately (?) when it comes in to land, it arrives from the opposite direction, and no one selected landing sites that are empty to the west. Unfortunately gets a ? mark because back in the 70s when the shuttle was going to do everything for everyone, everywhere, it was occasionally claimed it would be able to land on commercial runways... so if you're coming in a bit short, just land at colorado international airport. That, along with most of the vehicles abilities, was all cut during development to save money.

The astronauts may have lobbied to keep NASA from giving the shuttles the ability to land themselves (or via ground control) in an attempt to keep pilots from being made irrelevant. (Throwback to test-pilot days I guess).
Based on the faulty assumption that all pilots do is keep it straight and level and wait as patiently as the plane lands. The whole point of decades of training for airline pilots and astronauts is for them to fully understand each little bit of the A/C and how to work when it breaks. They know their vehicle like a kernel hacker knows his kernel.
So, say the exhaust temperature of one APU is fluctuating. If the computer could "do something" to fix it, it would. The humans job is to invent new ideas of troubleshooting and fixing. Flip that switch see what happens, try this maneuver. The stuff the Apollo 13 guys did is not amazing or unlikely or lucky, despite what the general public thinks, it is in fact exactly what they were supposed to do...
Think of that Canadian pilot whom invented a way to put a jetliner in a slip to lose altitude to land at an abandoned military field when the plane ran out of gas because of metric/imperial issues.
Thats why you have humans onsite, in the loop.

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"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger