Shuttle Infrared Leeside Temperature Sensing (SILTS) experiment - STS 61-C results

The operation of the Shuttle Infrared Leeside Temperature Sensing experiment on mission STS 61-C of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia is described. False-color video images are shown of surface temperatures on the leeside wing and fuselage areas during entry. Features evident in the imagery are related to aerodynamic flow phenomena such as shock interactions, leeside vortices, and elevon gap effects. Significant anomalies in experiment hardware operation occurred on this flight. The anomalous hardware performance resulted in requirements for major modification to the postflight data reduction procedures. The data collected provide a qualitative, but not a fully quantitative, look at leeside surface heating.