NASA: Initial Discovery tasks slowed by broken antenna

Computerworld - The malfunctioning Ku-Band antenna on the NASA space shuttle Discovery has forced crew members to seek new ways to complete scheduled tasks just a day into their 13-day mission.

For example, the shuttle crew will have to delay transmitting data gathered during this morning's inspection of Discovery's heat shield until after the shuttle docks with the International Space Station tomorrow.

Generally, data from such inspections, conducted by a robotic arm and the craft's Orbiter Boom Sensor System, is transmitted in real time to NASA ground crews via the Ku-Band antenna. Today, though, the crew had to record a video of the inspection that will be transmitted to Earth from the station.

The crew inspected the shuttle's thermal protection system tiles and reinforced carbon panels for any damage that might have occurred during takeoff. The inspection, which is standard NASA procedure in the hours after a shuttle launch, uses cameras and lasers at the end of the boom to provide 3-D views of the shuttle.

The images are transmitted to NASA's ground facilities for inspection by engineers there, who determine whether any further action is needed to protect the craft when it hits blazing hot temperatures during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

Discovery lifted off early Monday morning from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It's on a mission to deliver about 17,000 pounds of supplies and equipment -- including science racks and new sleeping quarters for the crew -- to the International Space Station.

The shuttle crew discovered the problems with the Ku-Band antenna soon after Discovery entered into orbit around the Earth yesterday, when its activation sequence failed. As of this afternoon, the antenna is still out of order.

The dish-shaped antenna is used for high data rate communications -- transmitting video images to the ground crew, as well as working with the shuttle's radar system to help the shuttle crew rendezvous with the space station.

NASA yesterday noted that the shuttle has backup systems that will enable it to make its scheduled rendezvous with the space station without the aid of the Ku-Band antenna, though the process will be harder.

The shuttle is slated to dock with the space station at 3:44 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday.

Shuttle crew members are slated to make three spacewalks during the mission to replace a gyroscope on the station's backbone, install a spare ammonia storage tank and retrieve a Japanese experiment underway on the station's exterior, according to NASA.

Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at @sgaudin, or subscribe to Sharon's RSS feed . Her e-mail address is sgaudin@computerworld.com.

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