CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Sensors designed to pinpoint potential damage from falling debris or other objects will be installed into the wings of NASA's remaining shuttle fleet, officials overseeing the space agency's return to flight efforts said Thursday.
Flight controllers on the ground will be able to see almost immediately the result of any impact and inform the astronauts in orbit where to train their cameras and other devices to determine the extent of the damage.
If damage is discovered, spacewalking crewmembers would repair any gaps in the heat protection tiles or composite material that makes up the wing's leading edges.
The astronauts will be equipped with the capability to patch a hole as large as 14 inches in diameter, using one of three repair techniques still being developed. The best method will be selected around March of next year, officials said.
This remains NASA's plan for now, said Richard Covey, co-chair of a task group that is monitoring NASA's compliance with the major recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. Work appears to be going well enough that the agency is hopeful that the next shuttle launch can take place in September or October.
"We haven't seen anything that says differently than what they've told us," Covey told reporters in Houston after the task group had conducted its second public hearing on NASA's progress.
The space agency continues to target the period of Sept. 12 to Oct. 4 -- give or take a few days -- as when the next shuttle can fly a mission to the International Space Station.
Yet NASA still is confronting the same obstacles it has wrestled with since the CAIB report's release in August: finding the best way to detect damage to the shuttle's heatshield and repair the mess while still in orbit.
Damage detection will involve the use of cameras and lasers attached to the end of a long boom, which itself will be at the end of the shuttle's robot arm.
Although all the parts are understood and proven on their own, getting them to successfully work as a system to detect flaws in the heatshield -- rather than cause damage, for example, by banging into the vehicle -- is the big hurdle.
Implementation of detection and damage control gear is a requirement for return to flight. Though the new wing sensors were not part of the initial mandate by the board, it is likely they will be in place before the next shuttle flies.
NASA continues to target Atlantis as the shuttle that will fly next with a crew of seven headed by Eileen Collins. However, workers are also preparing Discovery for the mission.
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