Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

problem-finder

The New York Times today makes an interesting point about NASA’s extreme cautiousness about space shuttle safety: So many of the tools the space agency has built since the 2003 Columbia disaster can detect new problems that weren’t necessarily detectable before, which creates new anxieties.

Is the space shuttle Discovery safe to re-enter the atmosphere on its way to landing next Monday?

Determining that it is, as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration did on Sunday, is an arduous process… Blame the tools that have been developed since the Columbia disaster. They give such stunningly clear and detailed images of the shuttle from orbit that there are endless new problems to worry about.

On Sunday, mission managers announced results of their close look at every suspicious mark and irregularity on the shuttle surface, including stiff bits of cloth called gap fillers that were poking out of the underbelly, as well as loosened patches on insulating blankets.

Before the Columbia, such problems would have probably not been noticed. Now, each becomes a potentially troubling issue, to be dealt with one by one by one by one. On Sunday, the sixth day of the 13-day flight, Steve Poulos, the orbiter projects office manager, said every item had finally been checked off.

“Not only did the team pound these issues flat,” Mr. Poulos said. “They put a dimple in the board when it was all said and done.”

They also pondered an octopus-shape black mark on the leading edge of the right wing that turned out to be soot from the craft’s small rockets and a suspicious white mark that appeared to have a black center that turned out not to be a dangerous ding, but dung. Or, more precisely, bird droppings.

If it seems like a bit much, NASA managers remind reporters that re-entry is unforgiving, and the loss of the Columbia is still all too fresh. They point out that the analysis took far less time than on the Discovery mission a year ago and that NASA is developing techniques to quickly discern potential hazards from mere schmutz.

(New York Times: “New Scrutiny for Every Speck on the Shuttle” - 07/11/06)