Thermographic imaging of the space shuttle during re-entry using a near-infrared sensor
2012
High resolution calibrated near infrared (NIR) imagery of the Space Shuttle Orbiter was obtained during hypervelocity
atmospheric re-entry of the STS-119, STS-125, STS-128, STS-131, STS-132, STS-133, and STS-134 missions. This
data has provided information on the distribution of surface temperature and the state of the airflow over the windward
surface of the Orbiter during descent. The thermal imagery complemented data collected with onboard surface
thermocouple instrumentation. The spatially resolved global thermal measurements made during the Orbiter's
hypersonic re-entry will provide critical flight data for reducing the uncertainty associated with present day ground-to-flight
extrapolation techniques and current state-of-the-art empirical boundary-layer transition or turbulent heating
prediction methods. Laminar and turbulent flight data is critical for the validation of physics-based, semi-empirical
boundary-layer transition prediction methods as well as stimulating the validation of laminar numerical chemistry
models and the development of turbulence models supporting NASA's next-generation spacecraft. In this paper we
provide details of the NIR imaging system used on both air and land-based imaging assets. The paper will discuss
calibrations performed on the NIR imaging systems that permitted conversion of captured radiant intensity (counts) to
temperature values. Image processing techniques are presented to analyze the NIR data for vignetting distortion, best
resolution, and image sharpness.
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