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Space Shuttle main engine OPAD: The search for a hardware enhanced plumeThe process of applying spectroscopy to the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) for plume diagnostics, as it exists today, originated at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and its implementation was assured largely through the efforts of Sverdrup AEDC, in Tullahoma, Tennessee. This team continues to lead and guide efforts in the plume diagnostics arena. The process, Optical Plume Anomaly Detection (OPAD), formed the basis for various activities in the development of ground-based systems as well as the development of in-flight plume spectroscopy. OPAD currently provides and will continue to provide valuable information relative to future systems definitions, instrumentation development, code validation, and data diagnostic processing. OPAD is based on the detection of anomalous atomic and molecular species in the SSME plume using two complete, stand-alone optical spectrometers. To-date OPAD has acquired data on 44 test firings of the SSME at the Technology Test Bed (TTB) at MSFC. The purpose of this paper will be to provide an introduction to the OPAD system by discussing the process of obtaining data as well as the methods of examining and interpreting the data. It will encompass such issues as selection of instrumentation correlation of data to nominal engine operation, investigation of SSME component erosion via OPAD spectral data, necessity and benefits of plume seeding, application of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to data analysis, and the present status of efforts to quantify specie erosion utilizing standard plume and chemistry codes as well as radiative models currently under development.
Document ID
19950009915
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Powers, W. T.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Cooper, A. E.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Wallace, Tim L.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Buntine, W. L.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Whitaker, K. W.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
November 1, 1993
Publication Information
Publication: JHU, The 1993 JANNAF Propulsion Meeting, Volume 2
Subject Category
Spacecraft Propulsion And Power
Accession Number
95N16330
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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