**The most comprehensive collection of STS-117 onwards related presentions and mission documentation are <\/em>available to download on L2<\/em> <\/em>**<\/em><\/p>\n **LIVE news updates on Atlantis STS-117 \u2013 and ET damage exclusives**<\/em><\/p>\n **LIVE news updates on Endeavour STS-118 (LON-318) Processing**<\/em><\/p>\n **LIVE news updates on Discovery STS-122 (LON-322) Processing**<\/em><\/p>\n <\/font>Related Notes and Presentations on L2, including: The NASA and Lockheed Martin e-mails and memos on the ET damage (VAST), plus new images and serveral presentations. ET Manifest (Lockheed Martin) ET-117 Production Milestone Presentations, plus more,<\/em> available to download on L2.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n Spaceflight (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n **Previous articles on the damage events: Article 1 \u2013 Article 2** \u2013 Click on the images for more screenshots of the damage.<\/p>\n <\/font>**FREE 100mb video of the NASA press briefing** \u2013 required to login to forum.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n <\/font> <\/p>\n The presentations (all available to download on L2), written by NASA, United Space Alliance, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and ATK, gave a comprehensive overview of the damage sustained by the storm, which gives hope that Atlantis herself will only require cosmetic work. <\/p>\n The SRBs did suffer some damage, but nothing near to the level that would require serious engineering work. However, the External Tank (ET-124) remains a major concern, with over 7,000 areas of damage, which engineers will attempt to repair in the VAB.<\/p>\n The storm hit a very localised area over the launch pad complex, lasting from 22:05 to 22:22 (GMT), with a peak wind strength of 62 knots.<\/p>\n <\/font> <\/p>\n \u2018Space Shuttle Vehicle (SSV) Hail Damage: Due to the extensive hail damage that the External Tank suffered, the STS-117 SSV will rollback to the VAB to repair the damage. Payload transfer from the Orbiter to the PCR is scheduled to start after S0024 hazardous operations are complete. Preparations for rollback will pick-up after the payload work is complete,\u2019 noted the Feb 28 NASA Launch Operations report.<\/p>\n \u2018The external tank, solid rocket boosters, and orbiter were inspected for hail damage yesterday; TPE took new IPR to document the damage: The external tank experienced approximately 7000 areas of foam damage from hail. The Left SRB RSS antenna and ETA ring show some damage. The orbiter sustained 27 hits to the tile; all appear repairable at this point.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Additional areas to be inspected: Minus Z side of RH SRB (Access available in VAB -Requires manlift at pad),\u2019 noted the extensive presentation on damage evaluations. \u2018Additional Data Required: SRB hold down post data. Wind Load concern.\u2019<\/p>\n Atlantis herself suffered 27 areas of tile damage, but not to any of her RCC panels. Repairs to the tiles will be lesser than those carried out on post flight processing operations \u2013 and can be carried out in the verticle position she\u2019ll be in once back inside the VAB.<\/p>\n \u201927 tile damages total: 8 locations on L\/H wing tip and Left Outboard Elevon (possible slurry repair). 1 location on Lower surface (possible putty or slurry MR repair). Port side 10-15\u00c2\u00a1\u00c2\u00af fwd of LMLG door. ~ 18 on L\/H chine FWD of RCC (Combination of putty and slurry repairs).<\/p>\n While the damage was caused by a freak weather situation, the Weather Protection System at the pad did protect Atlantis from serious damage, alongside the obvious protection from the giant Rotation Service Structure (RSS).<\/p>\n \u2018Based on the wind heading at the time of the event and weather protection arrangement, threat was identified to the port wing panels 17-22,\u2019 noted another presentation from Wednesday. Nose Cap and Starboard WLE were protected from hail impacts.\u2019<\/p>\n However, as expected, the ET is the major concern, with large scale damage observed. The worst case scenario would involve a demate and swapout with Endeavour\u2019s ET (ET-117), due for STS-118, which won\u2019t even be completed at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans until April.<\/p>\n Currently, the plan is to repair the tank, in the vertical, without the need to demate the orbiter and boosters from the ET. That process will take weeks, which led to the delaying of the launch of STS-117 to at least the end of April. <\/p>\n \u2018TPS Impacts 360 degrees with heaviest concentration on +Z side (>1200 hits in quadrant). Numerous areas of damaged foam (LO2 Acreage). Heaviest damage in +Z \/ -Y quadrant,\u2019 noted an expansive evaluation presentation.\u2019<\/p>\n Another worry is the IFRs (Ice Frost Ramps) which are a major area of concern for potential foam liberation on ascent. With ET-124\u2019s damage now upgraded from one IFR, to all inboard IFRs, repairs will need to pass a stringent level of approval before the tank is cleared to fly.<\/p>\n \u2018LO2 Ice Frost Ramps: Minor damage on inboard side of all Ice Frost ramps (could not inspect fwd of XT-634). XT-634 and Xt-676 have crushed foam,\u2019 was listed on one of the presentations. \u2018LH2 Ice Frost Ramps: Possible damage sites on lower LH2 ice frost ramps forward face.<\/p>\n \u2018Intertank: Numerous areas of damaged foam. Heaviest damage in -Z \/ -Y quadrant (see map). Foam damage on intertank flange in -CY \/ -Z quadrant. LH2 Acreage. ~12 small hits on -CY quadrant. Aft Interface Hardware: Foam damage on -CY ET\/SRB ramp, aft fairing and cable tray.\u2019<\/p>\n The repairs on the ET can be carried out in the VAB with the addition of special platforms and scaffolding, with previous experience drawn from the repairs that were carried out on STS-70\u2019s tank, after that tank saw some of its foam pecked away by woodpeckers, which had wrongfully assumed the ET was a giant tree.<\/p>\n \u2018VAB Integration Cell: Will require special access and scaffolding comparable to what was performed for STS-70 woodpecker damage. VAB Checkout Cell: Access is better in the checkout cell but special access would still be required.\u2019<\/p>\n The level of information that was gained within a few days of the event is staggering, even to the point of the weather itself. One presentation noted the actual size and speed the hail impacted the vehicle, as NASA showed that they are prepared to evaluate any occurrence \u2013 however rare \u2013 in the launch flow.<\/p>\n \u2018Diameter ranges from 0.5\u201d- 2\u201d(0.017 lbs to 0.138 lbs). Reports of \u2018golf ball\u2019 size hail. Density assumed to 57 lb\/ft3. 61.8 knot (104 fps) maximum gust combined with terminal velocity of 90 mph (132 fps). Maximum impact velocity is 219 fps. Assumes a partial downward wind component of 45 degrees from wind gust (74 fps).\u2019<\/p>\n <\/font><\/p>\n <\/font>Further articles will follow. Please refer to the live update pages on L2 (for NASA memos, emails and images) and on Atlantis\u2019 section (open to all)<\/em>. **INFINITY: 10 minute STS MUSIC VIDEO**<\/font><\/em><\/font> \u2013 **NASASpaceflight.com Job Opportunities**<\/em><\/font> <\/font><\/em><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After another set of evaluations, engineers have documented all of the damage that was suffered by orbiter Atlantis, her External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters, following Monday night\u2019s freak hail storm, outlined in two expansive presentations acquired by this site. Atlantis \u2013 currently having her payload removed overnight \u2013 will rollback to the Vehicle Assembly […]<\/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":[],"class_list":["post-41783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41783"}],"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=41783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/font>**Ride home through the fire and plasma of re-entry with Atlantis on STS-115 \u2013 And now also with Discovery on STS-116 \u2013 TWO Stunning high quality 2hr, 355mb videos \u2013 from deorbit burn to post landing**<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The SRB assessment concluded that there wasn\u2019t any obvious damage, although there are two areas of interest on the left hand SRB, notably on the RSS antenna dimples (3 loc) and ETA ring foam chip. <\/p>\n
The process in carrying out repairs on the damage will be conducted by erecting a special platform inside the VAB, where engineerings can carry out \u2018slurry repairs\u2019 with the aid of a applicator on the end of an extension aid.<\/p>\n
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