HANCOCK COUNTY, Miss. –NASA is simulating conditions typical of Space Shuttle launch days to see what kinds of ice and frost form on the foam insulation of the super-cooled External Tank.
Engineers are trying to understand better how much ice can safely accumulate on the tank without becoming a debris hazard. The tests are under way at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, Miss.
Because debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia’s External Tank led to the loss of the orbiter, NASA initiated an effort to determine sources of debris that could impact the Shuttle orbiters and cause critical damage. Data from all the tests at Stennis will be used in that analysis and, in turn, will also be used in making launch day decisions, beginning with next year’s Return to Flight mission, STS-114.
During preparations for Space Shuttle launches, which occur at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla., ice and frost can form depending on weather conditions on the External Tank during pre-launch cryogenic loading. That’s when the Shuttle’s super-cold liquid hydrogen fuel flows from the External Tank through the three Space Shuttle Main Engines. To simulate those conditions, engineers at Stennis mount four 2-foot-by-2-foot panels on a metal frame, then freeze them with liquid helium or liquid nitrogen over an 8-hour period.
The experiment is being conducted in a facility that was specially constructed for the tests. Just three weeks before foam tests panels were delivered Oct. 27, the facility was an empty parking lot. An 8-foot-by-40-foot moveable building was relocated to the site and then modified to accommodate equipment to control the temperature and humidity and to monitor the tests.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. (LMSSC), Michoud Operations is providing the panels and monitoring the tests to determine whether ice and frost formations created during the test are visually similar to those seen on the External Tank before a launch.
The dimensions, hardness, quality (consistency and uniformity) and density will be recorded. Nine sensors attached to the back of each panel send data to a control center where LMSSC personnel monitor.
“This is one series of many tests that are being performed throughout the country to ready the External Tank for a safe Return to Flight. Facilities at NASA centers like Stennis, as well as many Defense Department and university facilities, are being utilized to obtain timely and cost effective results,” said Sandy Coleman, External Tank project manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
Ice and frost samples of sufficient size (2 inches by 2 inches by 4 inches) will be shipped to Dr. Erland Schulson at Dartmouth College’s Thayer School of Engineering in Hanover, N.H., for testing and analysis. Schulson directs the Ice Research Laboratory, which performs research on the physics and mechanics of ice.
“This is a data-gathering exercise,” External Tank Foam Test Project Manager Gary Benton said. “We’re trying to replicate launch pad conditions.”
Video of the testing and interview soundbites will be available on the NASA TV Video File. NASA TV is available on the Web and via satellite in the continental U.S. on AMC-6, Transponder 9C, C-Band, at 72 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz. In Alaska and Hawaii, NASA TV is available on AMC-7, Transponder 18C, C-Band, at 137 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 4060.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz.
Related Multimedia :
+ https://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/news/newsreleases/2004/img_ssc-2004-04827.html
For NASA TV information and schedules on the Internet, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/ntv
For more information about NASA’s efforts to return Space Shuttles to safe flight, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight
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John C. Stennis Space Center
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