Kirsten Larson
Headquarters, Washington, DC                          March 21, 2001
(Phone: 202/358-0243)

Ann Hutchison
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
(Phone: 650/604-3039)

Joel Wells
Kennedy Space Center, FL
(Phone: 321/867-2468)

RELEASE: 01-21

NEW SCANNER HELPS THE SEARCH FOR SHUTTLE TILE FLAWS 

     NASA workers who face the critical and often tedious task of 
evaluating damage to the space shuttle's protective thermal tiles 
now have some high-tech help in the form of a new portable, digital 
inspection system.

Engineers from NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, and 
the Boeing Co., Huntington Beach, CA, delivered a hand-held laser 
scanner earlier this month to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, FL, for 
evaluation.

The shuttle's thermal tiles protect the orbiter and its crew from 
temperatures ranging from minus 250 degrees Fahrenheit in space, to 
nearly 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit during the superheated reentry. 
After each flight, every one of the more than 24,000 tiles that 
cover the shuttle's surface must be inspected.
 
"Tests at Ames and at Kennedy have demonstrated the scanner's 
ability to measure surface flaws on thermal-protection tile and 
blanket samples," said Ames senior project engineer Joseph Lavelle. 

The scanner uses a digital camera and lasers in a measurement 
technique called laser triangulation and is the first step toward 
the development of an Electronic Inspection and Mapping System 
(EIMS) that could aid the evaluation of the shuttle's Thermal 
Protection System (TPS).

"This new scanner, along with the rest of the EIMS currently in 
development at Kennedy, could increase the accuracy and reliability 
of our damage measurements," said Suzy Cunningham, Kennedy's TPS 
project manager. "The system could make the inspection process more 
efficient, which could eventually reduce vehicle turn-around time. 
Tile inspection is a very time-consuming process."

The hand-held instrument is a 5-by-9-inch box that, when placed over 
a tile, measures flaws within a 3-by-3-inch area. The scanner sends 
the data to a laptop computer. The software locates and 
characterizes the damage and generates a 3-D image, indicating the 
size and depth of the flaw. 

The system also contains a database of tile fabrication and 
maintenance information for every tile on the orbiter being 
measured. The latest TPS information and updates for each of NASA's 
four shuttles can be downloaded from a computer as required.

"A major challenge has been reducing the size of the system so it 
fits into small areas, such as those around the scaffolding that 
surrounds the orbiter during its post-landing maintenance," noted 
Lavelle. "With input from Kennedy engineers and United Space 
Alliance (USA) technicians, we have been very aggressive about 
making the scanner smaller."

The software also offers USA technicians various repair options. 
"Our California developers are writing software that integrates 
systems developed by Ames, Boeing Florida Operations at Kennedy, and 
Boeing-Huntington Beach," said Claudia Silverman, Boeing project 
manager at the Huntington Beach facility. "We are proud of the 
product and the team effort."

Lavelle said this electronic inspection technology also may have 
applications in other fields, such as integrated circuit inspection 
and in any manufacturing process that requires high accuracy.

"With the first phase of this project completed, we have already 
seen tremendous teamwork between NASA's field centers and the 
contractors," added Cunningham. "This is a clear indication of the 
cooperation we'll see as we develop a complete system." 

Images of the scanner are available on the Internet at:

http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov/releases/2001/01images/scanner/scanner.
html
http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/captions/hotpics.htm

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