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Aerospace Assesses Hailstorm Damage

Aerospace has worked closely with NASA to assess the foam debris hazard for every space shuttle mission since the Columbia accident in 2003. This included the Atlantis mission, STS-117, which launched from Cape Canaveral on June 8, 2007. Just prior to the Atlantis launch, NASA revised its damage map, derived using Monte Carlo analysis. The map, which tells how much damage the shuttle's tiles can sustain from foam impacts, is now more accurate for impacts from small foam debris (less than 0.002 pound mass).

The space shuttle Endeavour and its seven-member STS-118 crew head toward Earth orbit and a link-up with the International Space Station on Aug. 8, 2007 (NASA).

As it sat on the pad ready for launch in February, Atlantis was pummeled by a hailstorm that caused extensive damage to its orbiter and external tank. The launch date was canceled, and a three-month repair of the hardware systems began. The outer mold line of the external tank has certain critical thickness and flatness criteria that must be met for the tank to survive the heat it experiences during ascent. NASA decided to carve out the foam from damaged areas on the external tank and spray new foam. Repairs of this magnitude had been done only once before in the shuttle program's history. NASA now needed to know whether the repairs to the hail-damaged foam would increase the risk to the orbiter. After the repairs were completed, Aerospace assessed the foam debris hazard to the shuttle.

Aerospace had two concerns with the condition of the external tank. The first was that some foam softened by the hail, but not identified and replaced, could release during ascent because of structural degradation. Aerospace intentionally damaged multiple foam samples from the external tank to simulate the hail strikes. Each sample was then subjected to ascent environments in Aerospace's wind tunnel and monitored for foam loss. None of the samples experienced an anomalous release that could be associated with the hail impacts. Aerospace concluded there was no increased risk to Atlantis. The second concern was that the repaired foam might release during ascent. Aerospace analyzed the location, timing, mass, and expected release frequency of the repaired foam, and the results showed the risk was minimal compared with other known foam debris sources.

Aerospace assessed the repairs and concluded that the hail damage no longer threatened the launch. Results of the Aerospace hazard analysis for foam debris were presented to NASA at the second flight readiness review for STS-117 in late May. Atlantis safely returned from the International Space Station on June 22.

Space shuttle Endeavour, mission STS-118, also experienced foam loss that caused damage to the orbiter's thermal tiles when it launched on Aug. 8. After much testing and assessment, NASA concluded that the shuttle could safely return to Earth, which it did, on Aug. 21.

The Air Force Minotaur 1 rocket carrying the Near-Field Infrared Experiment satellite (NASA).

Near-Field Infrared Experiment (NFIRE)

NFIRE's tracking sensor payload successfully tracked and collected images of a thrusting target—a modified Minuteman II booster—launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Aug. 23, 2007.

Images from the successful test will improve understanding of missile exhaust plume observations and plume-to-rocket body discrimination, according to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. Program officials will continue to evaluate system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during the exercise. The data will be used to validate and update models and simulations that are fundamental to missile defense technologies.

The NFIRE satellite is the Missile Defense Agency's demonstration satellite program aimed at collecting long-wave infrared rocket plume data at close proximities, explained Pete Thomas, senior project engineer with the Aerospace Technology Development Test and Demonstration Directorate. The satellite supports the Missile Defense Agency's Kinetic Energy Interceptor Program, designed to produce interceptors capable of shooting down enemy ballistic missiles during their boost and ascent phases of flight.

The tracking sensor payload, NFIRE's primary payload, was developed by Science Applications International Corporation under the stewardship of the Air Force Research Laboratory and Aerospace. "The payload, developed under strict cost and schedule constraints, involved lots of direct Aerospace and Air Force insight into payload design, build, and test prior to launch and on-orbit operations," Thomas said. "Aerospace was present continually during the development to give immediate attention to issues or problems. Aerospace implemented an effective but informal process for managing problem and failure reports to help ensure the low-cost payload wouldn't fail."

The NFIRE satellite has been in orbit since it was launched from Wallops Island, Virginia, on April 24. The successful target launch mission is the first of two such dedicated missions.

Royalty Checks Go to Aerospace Inventors

Approximately 30 Aerospace inventors were awarded royalty checks in a ceremony held at Aerospace in June. Aerospace president and CEO William Ballhaus distributed the checks, which ranged from several hundred dollars to almost $64,000. Andrew Quintero from the Office of Intellectual Property Management discussed a number of recently licensed Aerospace inventions, including a golf putter, a "smart" fridge, a microvalve, and an Internet security program.

Andrew Quintero, William Ballhaus, and general counsel Gordon Louttit awarded royalty checks to Aerospace employees. The June ceremony recognized 30 Aerospace inventors.

Quintero gave a brief overview of the licensing process. He explained that when an Aerospace researcher discovers what is thought to be a new idea, that idea is listed in Aerospace's intellectual property database and reviewed by one of Aerospace's patent committees. If it is approved by the reviewing committee, a patent attorney prepares an application that is submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The inventor then prepares a summary of the invention, and this generally triggers the formal commercialization effort, which typically requires the inventor to conduct a technology opportunity briefing. "This is critical, because it is the primary document that works to market the technology," said Quintero. However, the intellectual property can be licensed in many ways, and this ceremony represented a number of those methods, representing almost $1 million.

Aerospace has licensed its inventions to many people and companies, including individual entrepreneurs, small startup companies, and large corporations. The revenue generated from the licensed patent is distributed among the inventors, their departments, and the corporation. The money distributed to the departments and corporation as a whole allows additional flexibility in supporting the vast array of interesting ideas being investigated at Aerospace. Inventors are encouraged to work closely with Aerospace's intellectual property office to build on this recent success.

Colorado Springs Security Award

The Aerospace security group in Colorado Springs has been awarded the James S. Cogswell Outstanding Industrial Security Achievement Award for 2007. The award was presented by the Defense Security Service at the annual training seminar of the National Classification Management Society in Reno, Nevada, in June. Thirty facilities were granted the award, from a pool of nearly 12,000 cleared DOD contractors.

Mark Wedo and Celia Canaan of the Colorado Springs security group are joined by Mike Drennan as they display the 2007 James S. Cogswell Award. The Aerospace Colorado Springs security group was recognized as a leader in setting high security standards for its facility.

The criteria for this award focus on principles of industrial security excellence. These include establishing and maintaining a security program that goes well beyond basic requirements. The award cited Aerospace for providing leadership to other cleared facilities in setting high standards for security.

Only facilities that have at least two consecutive superior industrial security review ratings and those that show a sustained degree of excellence and innovation in their overall security program may be nominated for the award. Aerospace received superior ratings in 2004–2006.

The award, established in 1966, is named in honor of the late Air Force Col. James S. Cogswell, who was the first chief of the unified office of industrial security within the DOD. The annual award is the most prestigious honor the Defense Security Service bestows on a cleared facility. Aerospace's Western Range Directorate at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California received the award in 1997.

"I am extremely proud of the Colorado Springs security group for its continued commitment to excellence," said Mike Drennan, Aerospace vice president of Space Operations, Requirements, and Technology.

To Fall 2007 Table of Contents