Lesson Learned From Columbia Disaster

The US military has said "yes" to a NASA request for detailed satellite images of space shuttles in orbit on a regular, ongoing basis. The agreement comes amid persistent questions about why no pictures were taken of possible damage to Columbia's wing, even though it was suggested before the orbitor disintegrated, Feb. 1.

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe on Friday announced the agreement with the U.S. National Imagery and Mapping Agency to use the agency's spy satellites "during targets of opportunity" without NASA having to make specific requests for such images. O'Keefe described the agreement as saying in effect, "When you have the opportunity, please take it. We'll either use [the images] to great effect or autograph them and send them back."

PR Pre-emption

The disclosure was a pre-emptive public-relations strike against hundreds of pages of internal NASA e-mails the space agency plans to release publicly early next week. Some of those e-mails, already turned over to the board investigating the Feb. 1 disaster, describe several NASA employees as pleading for surveillance images during Columbia's mission to help determine whether the shuttle could return safely, O'Keefe said.

The Investigation To This Point:

Investigators believe superheated air penetrated Columbia's left wing, which was struck 81 seconds after liftoff by a briefcase-sized chunk of insulating foam that broke away from the shuttle's external fuel tank. The investigating board has already indicated it will recommend NASA push for better coordination between the space agency and military offices in charge of satellites and telescopes.

The Tale Of The E-mails

E-mails NASA intends to disclose as early as Monday describe engineers debating the extent of possible damage to Columbia's heat tiles, unusual cabin temperatures during the mission, rust found on the orbiter and a fracture discovered in a component of the shuttle's fuel lines, O'Keefe said.

The deal disclosed Friday will make available to NASA, free or at low cost, detailed pictures of the shuttle during future missions, even though it remains unclear how useful such images might be. Each one of the shuttle's delicate insulating tiles, for example, is about 3 inches wide. The level of useful detail satellites might capture as shuttles fly nearby is a closely guarded secret, but O'Keefe -- himself a former senior Defense Department official -- suggested that America's capability "isn't anything like what a Clancy novel would have you believe."

NASA is still working out details about which of its employees will have adequate security clearance to view the sensitive images that the military's top satellites might take of shuttles. O'Keefe described the number of employees during Columbia's flight who could view such images as "no more than single digits, and you've got a lot of fingers left over on one hand." Some NASA engineers had argued during Columbia's 16-day mission that photographs of possible damage to the spacecraft's left wing might have helped determine whether the shuttle could return safely.

Could Sat Images Have Saved Columbia?

Before the Columbia disaster, NASA turned down an offer by the mapping agency to have its satellites take pictures of the shuttle, and NASA officials withdrew another unofficial request for Air Force telescopes to take pictures of Columbia.

O'Keefe said he would not discuss for security reasons how U.S. spy satellites operate. But he acknowledged there were opportunities to capture images of Columbia and that these "would have been very convenient." O'Keefe said he was not making a decision about whether those images might actually have helped determine the extent of damage to Columbia.

FMI: www.nasa.gov