Engineers face a daunting task in sifting through sensor data to piece together what took place during Columbia's final moments high above Earth, prompting investigators to consider recommending that future shuttles carry a robust data recorder similar in concept to the "black boxes" flown on commercial airliners.

During public testimony to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board on March 26, Gregory Kovacs, associate professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, said he was struck by learning that each shuttle in the fleet was not outfitted with a black box recorder as a standard piece of equipment.

NASAs space planes dont carry that type of device because information from hundreds of sensors around each shuttle is constantly radioed to Mission Control in Houston and monitored around-the-clock by flight controllers.

Both NASA and The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, California have been looking into fabricating a "black box" for satellites. A variation of this concept could be enhanced for use in the shuttle fleet, said William Ailor, director of The Aerospace Corporation's Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies.

Work to date has focused on a black box specially fabricated to give engineers data on how a spacecraft breaks up during reentry, Ailor told SPACE.com. Data gleaned by sensors during a spacecraft's fiery fall would be transmitted to a satellite.

Ailor said if such a device were outfitted for shuttle use, it would be different than equipment used on aircraft to ascertain flight control problems or reasons for a crash.

"The idea is to make a survivable, autonomous box, just like you have on an aircraft. But the challenge is the environment during reentry. It is much more severe than what you see on an aircraft accident. That's the difference," Ailor said.

The Aerospace Corporation has been working with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as well as heat shield designers at the space agency's Langley Research Center, Ailor said.

For adoption by the shuttle program, Ailor said, a black box would require its own heat shield.

Ailor said a shuttle-rated black box would carry a solid state memory unit, not magnetic tape as used in the recently recovered Orbiter Experiment Support System (OEX). Magnetic tape is too fragile and could melt if exposed to high heat.

According to a March 30 CAIB statement, a preliminary review of the OEX found approximately 420 sensors with good data, with more to come. These sensors record mainly temperatures and pressures. The recorder was unique to Columbia.

Unlike the OEX, any future shuttle recorder would carry its own independent battery source, Ailor said.

Ailor added that work to dat on black box technology shows that the hardware could be made lightweight. A number of devices could be tucked away within a space plane, perhaps in each wing, the tail section, or other areas.

However, given the huge amount of information sensed throughout the space plane, there is an issue of whether a satellite overhead could snag that data in the time available.

In the shuttle's case, a toughened-up black box would need to survive reentry and Earth impact. A Global Positioning System (GPS) sensor on a shuttle black box would broadcast a "come get me" signal, Ailor said.

"A reentry breakup is nasty and tough. In an aircraft accident you don't have a continuously long heat pulse, which essentially cooks metal and other materials. In reentry you do. It's a very destructive process," Ailor concluded.