Fuel Cell Problem Causes Concern
ANN REAL TIME UPDATE 09.06.06 1805 EDT -- NASA
managers, concerned about a problem with one of the three fuel
cells aboard the shuttle Atlantis, want more time to study the
problem. So, says Program Manager Wayne Hale, engineers and
technicians will work on the problem Thursday, in hopes of getting
the orbiter off the ground on Friday.
"We've never encountered a fuel cell problem like this before"
in the history of the shuttle program, Hale told a NASA briefing
Wednesday night.
The problem appears to be either in the wiring to the fuel cell
or in the cell itself, another shuttle manager told the briefing.
Engineers are focusing their investigation on an AC pump,
which supplies coolant to the fuel cell in question.
There is one problem: that AC pump was made in 1976, and
accepted into shuttle service in 1981. The company that made it has
been bought and sold at least four times... so finding technical
drawings for the pump has been difficult, to say the least.
NASA is calling all cars
in trying to solve the fuel cell problem. Faced with a hard
deadline because of an upcoming Soyuz flight to the International
Space Station and, of course, with the 2010 deadline for retiring
the shuttle fleet, NASA managers are working hard to get the
shuttle into space by Friday.
If they can't, Atlantis will likely remain on the ground until
next month at the earliest -- delaying a shuttle program that is up
against a hard deadline of its own. NASA is to use the shuttles to
complete the ISS... before the orbiters are retired in 2010.
Hale described the effort to research and solve the fuel cell
glitch as a great one, saying several NASA centers and the
quarantined Atlantis crew itself were involved in the
troubleshooting process.
Hale and other NASA managers admitted they're still stumped
about the probable cause of a cell fuel pump. Until the probable
cause of that glitch is found, Hale says he's not comfortable with
launching Atlantis... regardless of any deadlines.
Original Report
ANN REAL TIME NEWS: 0606 EDT -- NASA's fourth
attempt to launch the space shuttle Atlantis never saw the light of
day Wednesday, as space agency managers scrubbed the mission when
early-morning attempts to power up one of three
electricity-producing fuel cells went awry.
Reports from Launch Pad 39B indicate one of those fuel cells has
developed a short. that was discovered shortly after crews began
fueling the shuttle at around 0145 Wednesday morning. The discovery
delayed the launch of Atlantis by at least 24 hours.
Shuttle managers, engineers and technicians are racing the clock
in troubleshooting the problem. They can try to launch again on
Thursday and, if that fails, they can take the unusual step of
trying to fly on a third consecutive day. But if that fails, NASA
will have to wait until October because of a pending Soyuz launch.
That Russian mission is aimed at rotating the crew of the partially
completed International Space Station.
But completing that station is also a priority and there again,
NASA is up against the clock. The entire space shuttle fleet is
slated for retirement in 2010. The station must be completed by
that time. The current mission, STS-115, is scheduled to deliver
17.5 tons worth of girders that will hold new solar panels designed
to provide much of the power that will eventually run an expanded,
completed ISS. So it's no understatement that, where the clock is
concerned, NASA is between a rock and a hard place.