Webindia123, India
03/03/06
Scientists look at space shuttle foam
Ames, Iowa
Iowa State University researchers are studying how X-ray imaging and computer
simulation modeling can help NASA find defects in space shuttle foam.
The spray-on foam that insulates and protects a space shuttle's super-cold
external fuel tank is applied in thin layers. Joe Gray, lead researcher of the Xray group at Iowa State's Center for Non-destructive Evaluation, is studying
how X-ray backscatter imaging and computer simulation modeling can look
through those layers to find defects.
Backscatter X-ray technology makes images based on the electromagnetic
radiation deflected by objects back to a detector.
Pieces of foam fell from the shuttle Columbia's fuel tank during its January 2003
launch, causing damage that led to the shuttle breaking apart during re-entry.
The accident killed all seven astronauts aboard.
When the next shuttle flight blasted off last July, more foam chunks fell from the
shuttle's external fuel tank.
NASA is asking Gray and his research team to conduct an $88,000, 3-month
study to determine if X-ray technology can detect defects when layers of shuttle
foam curve around corners.
The shuttle's next flight is scheduled for May.