LOGAN, Utah
(AP) - A sensor created by Utah State University engineers is up in space to
protect astronauts against unwanted
shocks.
NASA TV will broadcast today's spacewalk live beginning at 9:00 a.m. EDT. Click here. |
"We have a chance
to contribute to the long-term astronaut safety on the space station,'' said
Harry Ames, deputy director of the university's Space Dynamics Lab.
It is
called a Floating Potential Measurement Unit. It departed Earth on July 4 aboard
the shuttle Discovery and will be installed
this week on the exterior of the space station.
The device
will track electrons that have gathered on the station's solar panels and could
be hazardous to astronauts.
NASA discovered that the space station
picks up electrons and ions as it flies through a thin layer of the Earth's
atmosphere, said professor Charles Swenson, who had a
key role in developing the sensor.
"It's
similar to picking up a charge and getting extra charge particles on your
body,'' he said. "If you touch a doorknob they jump
off your body.''
NASA is
concerned that charges on the solar panels of the space station will jump to
another side of the station or even to an astronaut's
suit, Swenson said.
The suit
could be damaged, or an astronaut electrocuted, if a charge jumped from the
station to the metal rings on a suit.
"They are
in a sweaty, wet garment inside the suit, not very conducive to working in a
high-voltage environment,'' Swenson said.
NASA has
attached plasma instruments to lower the charge. The Utah State device will
monitor the instruments to ensure they are working correctly.
"It's going
to be exciting from a science standpoint to look at this data,'' Swenson said.
The sensor
was stored in a nitrogen-filled bag for more than three years. It was supposed
to be sent to space in 2003 but was delayed by the Columbia shuttle disaster.
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