By Ottawa Business Journal Staff
Wed, Jun 28, 2006 12:00 AM EST
Ottawa Business Journal
Staff at Ottawa's Neptec Design Group are gearing up for another space mission.
Neptec's 3D laser camera system will be on board the space shuttle Discovery when it blasts into space this weekend from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
NASA will use the camera system to inspect the exterior of the shuttle to determine whether it is safe to return to earth. NASA is worried that foam breaking away from the shuttle's external fuel tank during launch could damage the spacecraft.
Neptec's laser camera is mounted to an inspection boom on the Canadarm. It will provide NASA's ground crew with a 3D image of any damaged area, enabling engineers to tangibly determine if the area needs to be repaired.
Mission plans also call for space walk during which astronauts, riding the end of the arm, will make a visual inspection of the heat-resistant tiles.
Nine employees from Neptec's Ottawa office will travel to Houston for the mission, where they will join three other Neptec employees who are permanently assigned to the Mission Control Centre.
One team will supply operations support and will work from the mission evaluation room, while a second group will analyse the data from the camera, Neptec's vice president of research and development, Iain Christie, told ottawabusinessjournal.com in a telephone interview.
The Houston teams will provide round-the-clock support to the mission. There will also be backup staff in Ottawa on duty while the camera is in operation.
"We are there to make sure that NASA gets the best information possible to allow them to make decisions which are critical for the safety of the astronauts on board the shuttle," says Mr. Christie.
Saturday's planned launch is the first since July 2005, a mission that was to test-fly a new fuel tank design. But program managers were surprised when a one-pound chunk of foam dislodged from the external tank during the launch phase. Luckily, it did not strike the spacecraft.
Mr. Christie does not expect anything untoward on this mission.
"Our biggest anticipation is that we'll have a good flight and get back to doing this on a regular basis."
The shuttle is scheduled to launch at 3:48 Saturday afternoon.