AGGIELIFE
THE BATTALION
SCI|TECH
THE BATTALION
5
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
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- 845-0544
A&M student project could
be used on future spacecraft
By Robert Stackhouse
THE BATTALION
Designed, produced and operated by a
team of Texas A&M faculty and students,
the experimental Star Nav I navigation
system proved itself onboard the tragic
28th flight of the space shuttle Columbia.
Dubbed Star Nav I, the endeavor is part
of an ongoing research project through
A&M's Commercial Space Center for
Engineering (CSCE) to produce an
advanced navigation system for future
spacecraft.
The purpose of the experiment was to
prove navigation techniques that had been
developed by researchers at A&M for star
pattern identification, said Dr. John
]unkins,a professor with A&M's aero
space engineering department.
“The purpose of identifying the stars is
lobe able to navigate the vehicle while
precisely determining the direction it is
pointing,” Junkins said.
He said a device of this sort would
determine a space vehicle’s orientation in
space — a sort of space compass.
While star navigation is no longer the
primary method of modern orienteering,
navigation by starlight is still a viable
method of discerning direction in space.
"The overall purpose is to develop new
technology for future spacecraft. The Star
Nav system could be used for interplane
tary travel, earth orbits, solar orbits -
wherever you can see the sky. You would
have a method of automatically navigating
by starlight,” Junkins said.
The Star Nav system needed to be test
ed in an actual working environment to
demonstrate its utility to members of the
scientific community. Testing on board the
Columbia was therefore a neccesary step
in its development.
“We had validated the technology on
the ground, but it is different in terms of
StarNav Optical Assembly
• 6 Cannon lens elements from
A COMMERCIAL 35MM LENS
• KOVAR HEAT-RESISTANT SPACERS
PREVENT MISALIGNMENT DUE TO
HEATING
• Charge-coupled device (CCD)
PROVIDES DIGITAL IMAGING
Ruben DeLuna • THE BATTALION
Source: CSCE Photo: The Texas A&M Foundation
acceptance of the technology if you haven't
had a ride into space,” Junkins said.
The Star Nav endeavor is a good
opportunity for A&M students to gain
some real-world experience, said Mike
Jacox, project manager of Star Nav I and
associate director of the CSCE.
“It was a group made up entirely of stu
dents running the experiment at (NASA’s)
mission control ” Jacox said.
This is the first instance of a complete
ly student-run space experiment he had
heard of, he said.
Maria Puente, an associate with CSCE,
worked firsthand with NASA astronauts
and mission controllers on the Star Nav
project. Puente and her colleagues manip
ulated the star camera through a NASA-
approved laptop linked to the shuttle com
munications relay.
“The unique thing about Star Nav is its
Most in space’ algorithm,” Puente said.
The algorithm, known as LISA, was
developed by Junkins and enables the
star-tracker to compare camera images to
star catalogs onboard the Star Nav to
determine the vehicle's orientation.
Junkins said the experiment was suc
cessful, and was not set back, despite the
fate of the Columbia.
“We were able to verify that our sys
tem worked. We had finished our experi
ments by Tuesday (Jan. 28). By and large,
we achieved our goal before the disaster
occurred,” Junkins said.
Ignorosphere’ could be key
to shuttle re-entry breakup
By Matthew Fordahl
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AN JOSE, Calif. — The space shuttle
ftmbia broke up in a mysterious area of the
upper atmosphere once so little understood and dif
ficult to study that scientists dubbed it the
“ignorosphere.”
The region is of particular inter
est not only because that’s where
le disintegration occurred but also
because of a time-exposure image
taken by an amateur astronomer
showing a snake of purplish light
corkscrewing through the shuttle’s
hot glowing trail as it crossed over
California.
Former shuttle astronaut Tammy
Jemigan collected the camera and
the image from the photographer,
who has requested anonymity while
NASA analyzes the shot. It’s not
clear whether the flash is real, or an
aberration of the camera.
The shuttle was traveling at
12,000 mph at an altitude of 39
miles as it disintegrated Feb. 1 in the searing heat of
re-entry, for reasons still unknown. All seven astro
nauts were killed.
Columbia was crossing through the mesosphere,
or middle atmosphere, which extends from about
30to 50 miles above the surface. It’s also called the
ionosphere, because of the presence of free elec
trons — or ions.
“We’re discovering the middle atmosphere' has
got a lot of electrical phenomena,” said Walt Lyons,
president of the EM A Research in Fort Collins,
Colo. “The key message here is that there may be
more things going on up there that we just don’t
understand or have no inkling of yet.”
In a report published last year, NASA
researchers said experts have “so far” concluded
that the electromagnetic phenomena or ice crystals
from the highest clouds are not known to pose a
danger to shuttles on re-entry.
Moreover, conditions on Feb. 1 were not right
for the most dangerous occurrences, though other
experts caution that much remains unknown about
this part of the atmosphere.
The region has been difficult to
study, because it’s too high for bal
loons and aircraft, yet it’s too low
and the air is too heavy for satel
lites, which would be unable to stay
in orbit because of the drag, said
Umran Inan, a physicist at Stanford
University.
“You can’t make local measure
ments with any regularity,” he said.
“You can have a single rocket shot
through the region, but the phenom
ena are dynamic and change from
place to place and time to time.”
In the ionosphere, ultraviolet
energy from the sun as well as
cosmic rays from faraway stars
separate electrons from atomic
nuclei. The free electrons give the area a character
istic not unlike everyday metal, in that it can reflect
electromagnetic energy.
These electrons also create strange electrical
effects, with fanciful names like “elves,” “sprites”
and “blue jets.” Until recently, they were largely
dismissed as illusions, noticed only by bleary-eyed
airline pilots.
All those phenomena are related to thunder-
stonns, which were not recorded in the area at the
time of Columbia’s descent.
The 2002 report by Kennedy researchers also
noted some risk from “noctilucent” clouds, which
are the highest clouds in the atmosphere.
There may be
more things going
on up there that we
just don’t
understand or have
no inkling of yet.
— Walt Lyons
president, FMA Research
NEWS IN BRIEF
Ex-hacker Mitnick
tastes own medicine
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
world's best-known computer
hacker suffered the indignity of
having someone break into his
new security consulting compa
ny's Web site.
Mitnick, whose federal proba
tion on hacking charges ended a
few weeks ago, acknowledged
that this weekend's electronic
break-in at Defensive Thinking
Inc. of Los Angeles was actually
the second time in weeks that
hackers found a way into the
computer running the firm's
Web site.
Mitnick wrote in an e-mail to
The Associated Press. "Actually,
it's quite amusing. All the hack
ers out there figure if they can
hack Kevin Mitnick's site, they're
the king of the hill."
Dude! You're busted
for drug posession!
NEW YORK (AP) - Dude! The
actor who gained fame and a
cult following as the slacker
"Steven" in commercials for Dell
computers was arrested buying
a small bag of marijuana, police
have said.
Benjamin Curtis, a 22-year-old
New York University drama stu
dent, awaited arraignment
Monday on a misdemeanor
drug possession charge.
Police said he was arrested
Sunday night on the Lower East
Side after officers on a drug
detail spotted him buying a
small bag of marijuana from
Omar Mendez, 19. Mendez faces
drug posession charges.
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