Shuttle crew conserves fuel, fixes data glitch
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View of the radar mast extending from the shuttle cargo bay
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February 18, 2000
Web posted at: 1:39 PM EST (1839 GMT)
From staff reports
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Texas (CNN) -- After scrimping on fuel
to compensate for a faulty thruster, then correcting a problem with a machine used to record Earth map data, the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour was on course to complete their mapping mission, NASA said Friday.
There was "a small blip in some of the information" being
stored by one of six high-data rate recorders on Thursday, said NASA
spokesman Doug Peterson in Houston. "People down here asked
the crew to swap out some cable. They did that and it's
working fine again."
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Space shuttle Endeavour launches from Kennedy Space Center Friday on a global mapping mission. |
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CNN interview with astronauts on board the shuttle Tuesday morning. |
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'Flycast' boosts shuttle altitude
A more serious problem, a malfunctioning gas valve, had threatened to cut short the mission by as much as a day.
A leak or clog in a tiny gas valve on the tip of the shuttle's radar antenna mast was forcing astronauts to fire the shuttle's thrusters more often to steady the 197-foot (60-meter) mast.
But some unusual fuel saving measures paid off and mission controllers told the crew Thursday that mapping operations would proceed for nine days as planned.
Adding to their good fortune, mission engineers on Thursday
observed that the small nitrogen gas jet on the mast seemed
to have begun providing some thrust.
Endeavour performed its sixth "flycast" engine firing Friday
morning. The complicated maneuver maintains the shuttle's
altitude at around 150 miles (240 kilometers), necessary for
the crew's precise mapping data collection.
The daily firing boosted the shuttle higher than normal this time, a deliberate change that should save fuel by eliminating an engine burn scheduled for Sunday, NASA controllers said.
Besides modifying the shuttle's engine burns, other fuel
saving measures include flushing waste water instead of
vaporizing it and restricting the use of certain equipment.
Alaska-sized area mapped every 15 minutes
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SRTM image of Kamchatka, a Russian peninsula comparable in size to Japan
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The Endeavour is to make images of 70 percent of the
Earth's land forms at least twice, providing information to
produce the most comprehensive and detailed three-dimensional
maps of the world.
By Friday morning, more than 24 million square miles (39
million square kilometers) had been mapped with two or more
passes, representing more than 50 percent of the target
area.
The shuttle's radar system has mapped almost 40 million
square miles (64 million square kilometers) at least once.
That area is larger than the Americas, Africa and Australia combined.
Endeavour's radar was scanning an area the size of Alaska every 15 minutes.
Grade school project sets record pace
NASA said an experiment on the shuttle inspired by children has
set a record pace.
The EarthKAM camera has already beamed
back almost 1,400 photos of Earth to middle school students.
On four previous shuttle flights combined, EarthKAM sent down
some 2,000 photos.
The shuttle is scheduled to land at Cape Canaveral on
Tuesday.
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RELATED SITES:
Latest Images from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
NASA Homepage
NASA Human Spaceflight
Kennedy Space Center Home Page
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