Photographic survey of the LDEF mission

452 Pages·1996·21.6 MB·English

by  O'Neal, Robert L

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Publication 531

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Photographic Survey
OF THE
LDEF
Mission
by
Robert L. O'Neal
Arlene S. Levine
Carol C. Kiser
National Aeronautics and Langley Research Center
Space Administration Hampton, Virginia 23681-0001
WELLESLEYCOLLEGE LIBRARY
NASA Special Publication 531 I
1996 JAN - 9 1997
DEPOSITED BYTHE
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
The use oftrademarksornamesofmanufacturers inthis
reportisforaccuratereportinganddoesnotconstitutean
officialendorsement,eitherexpressedorimplied,ofsuch
products or manufacturers by the National Aeronautics
andSpace Administration.
Availableelectronically atthefollowing URLaddress: http://techreports.larc.nasa.gov/ltrs/ltrs.htnil
Printedcopiesavailable fromthe following;
NASACenterforAeroSpace Information NationalTechnical Information Service (NTIS)
800Elkridge LandingRoad 5285 PortRoyalRoad
Linthicum Heights, MD21090-2934 Springfield, VA 2216I-217I
[phone] [phone]
Preface
This publication and accompanying CD-ROM present a comprehensive set of high quaUty
reproductions ofpretlight, in-tlight, and postflight photographs ofthe Long Duration Exposure
Facility (LDEF) and the experiments. General descriptions of the LDEF and its mission are
also included. The photographs document the effects of more than 5 1/2 years of exposure to
the space environment on the spacecraft and the experiments. Therefore, the photographs
present a major source ofresearch data.
The text explains where each photograph (e.g., in-flight or in the Spacecraft Assembly and
Encapsulation Facility II (SAEF II)) was taken, the location of the experiment on the LDEF,
and the notable characteristics of each photograph. The text addresses visual observations
NASA
rather than detailed analyses. For detailed analyses of the experiments, see Conference
Publications 3134, 3194, and 3275, which are the proceedings from the first, second, and third
LDEF Post-Retrieval Symposia.
The LDEF Project was initiated during the early development of the Space Shuttle. The
project was designed to take advantage of the unique capability of the Space Shuttle to place
large payloads in Earth orbit, retrieve these payloads, and return them to Earth. This project
marks the first time that direct observation and analysis of the effects ofthe space environment
on a large number of experiments were perfomied. The project was designed, fabricated, and
managed by Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
We thank all the photographers who documented this project in such a thorough manner at
Kennedy Space Center, Johnson Space Center, and Langley Research Center. In-tlight photo-
graphs were taken by Terry J. Hart (with the assistance ofRobert L. Crippen, Francis R. "Dick"
Scobee, George D. Nelson, and James D. A. van Hoften) for the deployment mission and
Marsha S. Ivins (with the assistance of Daniel C. Brandenstein. James D. Wetherbee. G. David
Low, and Bonnie J. Dunbar) for the retrieval mission. Photographs at Kennedy Space Center
were taken by George Shelton. The photographers at Langley Research Center included
William C. Salyer Jr., Frederick D. Jones, Sandra H. Gibbs, and Don W. Ward.
In addition, we thank all those people at Langley who worked so diligently to put together
this publication and the accompanying CD-ROM: William H. C. von Ofenheim. who coordi-
nated the photographic scanning operations and premastering of the CD-ROM; Sharon L.
Jenkins and Zylphia E. Wilkins, Computer Sciences Corporation, who painstakingly completed
the scanning operation for the CD-ROM; Nancianne Judge, who coordinated the effort to elec-
tronically enhance and foimat the images to be used in the black and white publication; Earl E.
Williams, Jr.. Margaret P. Hopkins, and Catherine K. Reid. who perfomied the electronic
enhancements and formatted the black and white images; Jack Holm who established elec-
tronic tables for the prepress images; Charles T. Brown, Kennedy Space Center, who located
many of the negatives from Kennedy Space Center; and Lynn Heimerl and Gail S. McQuigg,
who performed the technical editing. We also thank Ricky Hoff, Mary K. McCaskill,
Rodney P. Adams, and Donna Roper for their input and support during this project.
The CD-ROM, which accompanies this publication, confomis to the ISO (International
Standards Organization) 9660 standards to ensure compatibility across computer platfomis.
The CD-ROM contains the color versions of all photographs that are reproduced in black and
white in this publication. The color photographs were digitized in JPEG (Joint Photographic
Experts Group) format, which is a standardized image compression mechanism written by the
Hi
Joint Photographic Experts Group. It is a "lossy" image fomiat. That is, a format that uses
decompressed images that are not identical to the original uncompressed images, but are
designed to depict photographs so that compression anomalies are invisible to the human eye.
The CD-ROM also contains the text files that describe each photograph.
The digitized images have the extension ".JPG" to indicate that they are in JPEG format.
The figures are batched according to the trays that they depict in the report. Numerous com-
mercial packages exist that support the JPEG format;, however, several viewers are available
from the World Wide Web. The following is a list of viewers with locations that are available
on the World Wide Web for certain computer platforms:
For X-Windows Systems
XV
Software:
Location: ftp.cis.upenn.edu:/pub/xv/
Software: ImageMagick
Location: ftp.x.org:/contrib/applications/ImageMagick/
Software: Xloadimage
Location: ftp.x.org:/R5contrib/
For IBM PC (Windows) Compatible Systems
Software: ACDSee
Location: ftp.coast.net:/SimTel/win3/graphics/
Software: LView Pro
Location: ftp.coast.net:/SimTeI/win3/graphics/
Software: WinECJ
Location: ftp.coast.net:/SimTeI/win3/graphics/
For IBM PC (DOS) Compatible Systems
DVPEG
Software:
Location: sunee.uwaterloo.ca:/pub/jpeg/viewers/
For IBM PC (OS2) Compatible Systems
Software: JoeView
Location: hobbes.nmsu.edu:/os2/graphics/
PMJPEG
Software:
Location: hobbes.nmsu.edu:/os2/graphics/
PMView
Software:
Location: hobbes.nmsu.edu:/os2/graphics/
For Macintosh Systems
Software: JPEGView
Location: sumex-aim.stanford.edu:/info-mac/gst/grf/
Software: GIFConverter
Location: mac.archive.umich.edu:/mac/graphics/graphicsutil/
iv
Software: GraphicConverter
Location: sumex-aim.stanford.edu:/info-mac/gst/grf/
The full-resolution versions of each of the images and associated text files are also avail-
able on the World Wide Web by using a browser. To access these images, open the following
uniform resource locator (URL) from any browser:
http://lisar.larc.nasa.gov/LISAR/index.html
The LISAR (Langley image scanning, archival, and retrieval) number associated with each
image has been included in the text files for easy search and retrieval.
Also included on the CD-ROM is a table (MATERIAL.TXT) that indicates the materials
that were flown on the LDEF along with their locations. This table was condensed from a table
that was constructed by Carol Kiser (formerly the LDEF Experiments, Systems, and Integra-
tion manager) under Langley contract number NASI-19247 with Boeing Aerospace Opera-
tions, Inc. Mr. Kiser also compiled information for this publication. Mr. Robert L. O'Neal
(retired from NASA as the LDEF Project Manager) wrote the text under contract number
NASI-19000 with Lockheed Engineering & Sciences Company and during his retirement. This
author thanks them for their efforts.
Arlene S. Levine

Contents
Preface iii
Contents vii
Acronyms xi
Introduction 1
Description of LDEF 6
Design and Fabrication 6
Experiment Trays 6
Experiment Systems 7
Experiment Power and Data System 7
Experiment Exposure Control Canister 7
Batteries 7
Experiment Initiate System 7
Grapple Fixtures 7
Thermal Control 8
Attitude Control 9
Experiments 9
Deployment Mission 9
Shipment ofLDEF to Kennedy Space Center 9
Experiment Integration With Tray 10
Tray Integration With LDEF 10
Deployment Flight 10
Retrieval Mission 10
Retrieval Planning 10
Retrieval Flight 11
Ferry Flight to Kennedy Space Center 12
Postflight Operations at Kennedy Space Center 12
Postflight Observations ofExperiment Trays 13
Postflight Observations ofLDEF Structure 13
Photographs of Deployment and Retrieval Missions 14
Fabrication and Launch of LDEF 14
Retrieval ofLDEF 23
Removal ofLDEF From Cargo Bay of Shuttle 35
Photographs ofExperiment Trays 46
Tray Al 46
Tray A2 51
Tray A3 56
vii
1
Tray A4 61
Tray A5 66
Tray A6 68
Tray A7 70
Tray A8 74
Tray A9 79
Tray AlO 84
Tray All 89
Tray A12 94
Tray B 96
Tray B2 98
Tray B3 100
Tray B4 106
Tray B5 Ill
Tray B6 116
Tray B7 118
Tray B8 123
Tray B9 128
Tray BIO 134
TrayBll 138
Tray B12 140
Tray CI 145
Tray C2 147
Tray C3 152
Tray C4 159
Tray C5 161
Tray C6 162
Tray C7 163
Tray C8 164
Tray C9 169
Tray CIO 175
Tray CI 178
1
Tray C12 183
Tray Dl 190
Tray D2 195
Tray D3 199
Tray D4 204
viii