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\u201cOV-103 \/ SRB BI-144 \/ RSRM 112 \/ ET-137 (Pad-A): OV-103 (Discovery) was powered up and down this morning to perform FCP H20 sampling. In addition, SRBs and ET\/OI were powered up to take data,\u201d noted the NASA Test Director (NTD) report (L2). \u201cIPR 0054 Forward Mission Event Timer (MET): The forward MET will be replaced today.<\/p>\n
\u201cIPR 0058 Main Engine Controller C\/B (Circuit Breakers): Troubleshooting yesterday revealed no observed large resistance imbalances, but several CB closures revealed noisy signals on phases B and C. Further analysis to come. Panel L4 removal is complete and the panel is being sent to the NSLD. The plan is to reinstall the panel on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n
STS-133 Specific Articles: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/tag\/sts-133\/<\/p>\n
Discovery will be re-awakened from her slumber on Monday to provide assistance to the MEC retest, as engineers press forward with what may be a potentially smooth resolution to the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) leak \u2013 with the root cause now pointing to the carrier plate as the culprit for the leak during tanking.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/A74.jpg\" "\\"A7\\"")
\u201cIPR 0068 Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) leak: Engineering analysis of the data was performed Thursday and the team\u2019s conclusion was that the concentricity measurements of the SN2 Carrier Plate at the 7-8 O\u2019clock position (where the vent line at Pad A tends to pull on the GUCP) were the greatest out of spec measured to date,\u201d added the NTD.<\/p>\nAerospace & Defense
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Interestingly, the flight seal has become less of a concern, and despite initial findings pointing to it being \u201casymmetrically compressed\u201d. This may aid evaluations into the root cause, with only one obvious part of the GUCP hardware being confirmed as out of spec.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition, the NASA Lab also completed the majority of their NDE (Non Destructive Evaluation) analysis of the removed 7\u201d flight seal,\u201d added the NTD report. \u201cThere were no abnormalities detected at the lab with respect to the seal.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the current findings in hand, managers met on Friday to discuss the forward plan (meeting were ongoing at time of publication, updated to note a go to proceed), one which centers around replacing the suspect carrier plate.
\n(Click here to see an exclusive super slow mo 8mm movie of the GUCP releasing at launch)<\/p>\nThe goal would be to begin the reinstallation of the GUCP hardware to the tank over the weekend, with a further decision on if to conduct a Tanking Test \u2013 as was conducted on STS-127\u2019s tank after a second GUCP-related scrub.<\/p>\n
For all NASASpaceflight.com articles related to the GUCP, click here: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/tag\/gucp\/<\/p>\n
\u201cThe team is ready to begin installation of the SN3 GUCP. An ERB (Engineering Review Board) (will) discuss the initial concentricity measurements of the SN3 GUCP. Based on that discussion, the ERB will either give a go or a no-go to proceed with flight seal and ground QD installation,\u201d the NTD noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plan remains to have the GUCP R&R complete over the weekend and ready for retest once panel L-4 (related to the MEC) is reinstalled on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/A82.jpg\" "\\"A8\\"")
Following the observation of two cracks on either side of one of ET-137\u2019s stringers \u2013 likely responsible for the defect noted in the intertank flange foam shortly after the scrub was called \u2013 plans have been drawn up on both access and repair options.<\/p>\nWith a plan approved to complete all the required repairs at the pad \u2013 thus avoiding what was always an unlikely rollback to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) \u2013 engineers decided to install a doubler to the defect area prior to refoaming the areas with BX foam.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ET\/IT door was removed yesterday (Thursday) in order to get access to the inner-tank for the stringer repair. Equipment is being staged on the -Y platform to start building the enclosure required to support the foaming operations.\u201d<\/p>\n
As noted, engineers opened an Intertank access door, allowing them to ingress the tank\u2019s structure \u2013 which is located in are area between the LH2 and LOX tanks. At the same time, additional foam was removed from the stringer area, in order to check adjacent stringers for any additional defects.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/A46.jpg\" "\\"A4\\"")
\u201cIPR 133V-0072 ET LO2\/IT stringer crack: Additional foam trimming was performed. Some additional foam trimming will be performed Friday to expose adjacent stringers making sure no additional cracks exist,\u201d the NTD noted on Friday morning.<\/p>\nThat proved to be a wise decision, as a third crack was observed on the stringer to the left of the original defects.<\/p>\n
The latest crack does not appear to be as \u201cbad\u201d as the other two defects, via hi-res photos acquired by L2 \u2013 likely because it has failed to \u201copen out\u201d along the fracture line, potentially pointing to less stress involved when compared to the original two cracks.<\/p>\n
Further updates will be added when additional information is forthcoming.<\/p>\n
UPDATE 1: GUCP Carrier Plate installation ongoing, requiring two torque operations. Doubler installation ongoing, with set-up for TPS foam spraying operations in work. Flight Seal is installed.<\/p>\n
UPDATE 2: Four cracks (in the two stringers) observed. First stringer is removed for R&R. ERB to discuss further foam removal on Monday. Will be a new article later on Monday.<\/p>\n
All images via L2 and NASA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two more cracks has been found on a stringer adjacent to the two original cracks on Discovery\u2019s External Tank (ET-137). The latest crack was found on the far left of removed Thermal Protection System (TPS) foam on the flange area between the Intertank and the LOX tank, but appears to have suffered less stress than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9021,9122,9051],"class_list":["post-40604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-et","tag-gucp","tag-sts-133"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40604"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}