Now that Discovery astronaut Steve Robinson has successfully removed two pieces of fabric poking out of the shuttle's heat shield, a question remains: how did NASA discover these anomalies in the first place? In this article, Forbes.com writes that NASA can say thank you to a private Canadian company, Neptec, and its Laser Camera system (LCS). Neptec is working with NASA for ten years now, but it was the first time that its vision technology was used for external damage assessment of a shuttle. As NASA says it may cancel some future shuttle flights, Neptec plans to implement its 3-D imaging technology in military situations and on the battlefield. But read more...
Let's first look at some images of this laser camera system (Credits for images and captions below: Neptec).
Neptec's Laser Camera System (LCS) will be deployed at the tip of a new 50-foot (15-metre) inspection boom being deployed for the first time aboard Discovery for the Return to Flight mission. Manufactured by another Canadian company, MD Robotics, the boom is stored on the opposite side of the Shuttle's cargo bay from the Canadarm.
This 3-D rendering depicts Neptec's Laser Camera System, deployed on the Canadarm, scanning the nose cone of the Space Shuttle Discovery for potential damage to the Shuttle's heat shield tiles. NASA is harnessing Neptec's technology to detect tiny fractures in the Shuttle's heat shield before the crew risks re-entry.
[And below is] a close up of Neptec's Laser Camera System prior to the application of reflective Teflon tape. The picture shows the large radiator on the top of the enclosure that ensures the scanner will not overheat on orbit.
The top image was extracted from this Macromedia Flash animation. Larger versions of the two other images are available here and there. Finally, you'll find other images in the gallery accessible from this page.
Now, here are some technical details given by the Forbes.com article.
Discovery’s "bread-box sized" laser camera system (LCS) is one example of Neptec’s advanced technology. It doesn’t relay information through video. Instead,it transmits the information to a computer, which then creates a model accurate to a few millimeters. Unlike radar or video imaging, the model can integrate the data according to set parameters: It "knows" if something looks different or has changed.
Iain Christie, director of research and development at Neptec, says it is the equivalent of "intelligence in three dimensions."
As I noticed above, future shuttle flights have been put on hold -- and might be canceled for a while. So what Neptec will do if it loses a customer like NASA?
These highly accurate 3-D image scans can be implemented in numerous military situations as well. Next-generation, truly "smart" laser cameras have already performed well in testing. On the battlefield, they could identify approaching vehicles to prevent friendly fire incidents and could alert soldiers to irregularities in surrounding environments. "With the IEDs [improvised explosive device] we see being used, this could warn them of even small changes," Christie said.
Neptec is a small company with a revenue of about $20 million in 2005, but it has big projects, with both NASA, to guide an unmanned spaceship to fix the Hubble telescope, and with the military, with new sensors which have "immense defense capabilities."
Finally, if you want to know more about Neptec and the Shuttle program, please check this page.
Sources: Danit Lidor, Forbes.com, August 1, 2005; and various web sites
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7:42:05 PM
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