NASA Ames' fitting role in new Shuttle NASA Ames' fitting role in new Shuttle (July 15, 2005)

Agency has worked hard to make latest mission safer

Editor's Note: NASA is scheduled to launch Space Shuttle Discovery in the near future from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It is the first Shuttle voyage since Columbia exploded on Feb. 1, 2003. G. Scott Hubbard, director of NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, wrote this guest opinion to mark the occasion.

By G. Scott Hubbard

NASA's Space Shuttle returns to flight on July 13 after an agonizing 2 1/2-year grounding of the fleet following the tragic loss of the Columbia and her crew. Within hours of the loss of the Columbia, an independent investigation was convened based on an existing NASA contingency plan. I was privileged to serve as the sole NASA official on that board.

My task was to find the physical cause of the accident. Using a rigorous test program that recreated, to the extent possible, the actual circumstances of the original incident, we arrived at a cause of the accident that had no caveats.

In brief, a piece of falling insulation foam from the external tank impacted the left wing of the Shuttle and made a hole in the thermal protective material. That damage compromised the craft so severely that the Shuttle and her seven-person crew were lost during reentry to Earth's atmosphere.

Today, through the hard work and commitment of thousands of individuals, the insulating foam that once fell from the connection spot (the bipod) between the Shuttle and its large external fuel tank has been eliminated through a complete redesign. This is just one of the myriad improvements to the Shuttle.

At my own center, NASA Ames -- the Silicon Valley center -- we have contributed significantly to increased Shuttle safety. Our supercomputing facilities, including Project Columbia, one of the world's fastest supercomputers, have been busy performing analyses of the original accident and its cause. They also have been instrumental in greatly increasing our understanding of the basic environment of Shuttle reentry, and analysis of the bipod redesign.

Other Ames facilities such as our arc jets -- a city-block-sized complex of advanced equipment that can create the reentry environment and its 3000-degree temperatures on the ground -- have helped test materials for on-orbit repair. Our ballistic range has been active characterizing foam for structural and thermal analysis. Our knowledge engineering team for complex systems has been working to predict how teams perceive and manage risk, as well as completing the "Digital Shuttle" model to fully understand the complexity of the spacecraft. Our vertical motion simulator has improved pilot approach and landing, and our wind tunnels have improved understanding and analysis techniques. All of this effort is but a small part of what the agency as a whole has accomplished in improving the safety of the fleet.

When the crew of STS-114, carrying Mission Specialist and Sacramento native Steve Robinson, lifts off for space, they will sit at the helm of a shuttle that is safer than it has ever been. We know that space exploration is never entirely risk-free. Still, particularly in the realm of human space flight, NASA is committed to safety as the top priority, and I have been proud to offer the resources of Ames to protect the lives of our explorers.

The exploration of space, both robotic and human, is one of the most challenging and thrilling endeavors of our age. As humans, we explore. It's in our genes. We stand at the brink of a new century, and we are prepared with a compelling vision for space exploration, so clearly outlined by President Bush in January 2004. We also are better prepared than we have ever been, with new tools, new technologies, and new determination. We are ready to fly.
G. Scott Hubbard is director of the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field

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