The Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL) was a facility at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. It was the only facility in the Space Shuttle Program where actual orbiter hardware and flight software can be integrated and tested in a simulated flight environment. It supported the entire Space Shuttle program to perform integrated verification tests. It also contained Firing Room Launch Equipment identical to that used at KSC. Thus complete ground verifications, as well as countdown and abort operations, could be tested and simulated.
The testing process is extensive and rigorous; the software on the Shuttle is often considered to be among the most bug-free of operational systems.
The laboratory contains a complete avionics mock-up of a Shuttle, designated OV-095. While only a skeleton of an orbiter, the electronics are identical in position and type to those used on the Shuttle; it is a sufficiently faithful replica that crews sometimes prefer to use it to train on, rather than the training simulators.
NASA personnel who have been assigned to SAIL testing include Charlie Bolden (former NASA Administrator), Michael Coats (former Director at JSC NASA), Brewster Shaw (Boeing Vice President of Space Exploration Division) and Al Crews (selected as an astronaut for the X-20 Dyna-Soar).The first SAIL commander was James E. Westom of Rockwell International, retired Major USAF. He flew the Approach and Landing phase in SAIL before Space Shuttle Enterprise was launched off the top of the NASA C-747 airplane to prove it could fly on its own in the atmosphere.
The SAIL facility will be renovated and recreated as a stop on the Space Center Houston Level 9 Tour, a separate add-on to the visitor's center admission in which tourists are given entrance to buildings normally off limits to visitors.[1]
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Avionics and Electrical Systems
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Building Up the Avionics System for SLS – in Just 60 Seconds
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ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL SPACE DIVISION 1975 PROMO FILM SPACE SHUTTLE & APOLLO-SOYUZ PROJECT 68804
Transcription
Music full then under VO. The Marshall Space Flight Center’s experts in Avionics provide in-depth engineering for the research, design, development, fabrication and evaluation of avionics systems. “Today’s Avionics & Electrical System architectures are more flexible and affordable systems, and Marshall’s team embraces these attributes.” Flexibility is achieved using in-house design options including integrating commercial, off the shelf with custom designed hardware. Affordability is achieved across the system lifecycle by design considerations and early assessment of System Certification through “out-year” sustainment and operational use. Designing a system that economically accommodates future change is the challenge; NASA’s team has solutions to offer.Some of the Specialty services NASA has to offer include Flight Robotics Lab hardware simulations, power systems testing, Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) design and programming. To design, build and operate hardware for the harsh environment of space you need robust electronic design, fabrication, and packaging. To complete the process you need Electromechanical Parts Engineering, Obsolescence Management and Part Failure Analysis.Marshal also performs electrical environments testing.Numerous Avionics resources are available to perform Development, Test Evaluation and System Certification of critical systems. “We have unique capabilities to design and test robotic applications for both science and human exploration missions” Marshall’s Avionics & Electrical Systems diverse experience comes from a broad range of projects including; Instruments and Experiments Payloads… Free Flyers… Launch Vehicles… And the International Space Station. Marshall’s Avionics and Electrical Team has proven past performance. This team has gained valuable knowledge from its unique position on a broad range of developments. Combining your team’s strengths with the Marshall team’s knowledge, skills, and capabilities builds for a strong development team and will help ensure the success of your development.
References
- ^ "Johnson Space Center Home". 2015-02-11.
External links
- Melone, Kelly (September 2010). "SAILing through space" (PDF). Boeing Frontiers. 9 (5): 24–25.
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This page was last edited on 27 June 2023, at 09:28