For 6 years prior to the retirement of the Space Shuttle Program, the shuttles carried an onboard repair kit with a tool for emergency use: two tubes of NOAX, or "good goo," as some people called it. NOAX flew on all 22 flights following the Columbia accident, and was designed to repair damage that occurred on the exterior of the shuttle. Bill McMahon, a structural materials engineer at Marshall Space Flight Center says NASA needed a solution for the widest range of possible damage to the shuttle s exterior thermal protection system. "NASA looked at several options in early 2004 and decided on a sealant. Ultimately, NOAX performed the best and was selected," he says. To prove NOAX would work effectively required hundreds of samples manufactured at Marshall and Johnson, and a concerted effort from various NASA field centers. Johnson Space Center provided programmatic leadership, testing, tools, and crew training; Glenn Research Center provided materials analysis; Langley Research Center provided test support and led an effort to perform large patch repairs; Ames Research Center provided additional testing; and Marshall provided further testing and the site of NOAX manufacturing. Although the sealant never had to be used in an emergency situation, it was tested by astronauts on samples of reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) during two shuttle missions. (RCC is the thermal material on areas of the shuttle that experience the most heat, such as the nose cone and wing leading edges.) The material handled well on orbit, and tests showed the NOAX patch held up well on RCC.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Polymers Advance Heat Management Materials for Vehicles


    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2013-02-01


    Type of media :

    Miscellaneous


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




    Testing Advance Technology Vehicles

    Hughes, P. / Coordinating Research Council | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1990


    Electric vehicles advance in France

    Gribble, Don | Tema Archive | 1984


    Advance computer communication systems in hybrid vehicles

    Suryavanshi, P.V. / Sharma, V.K. / Sharma, R. | Tema Archive | 2007


    Advance Computer Communication Systems in Hybrid Vehicles

    Suryavanshi, P.V. / Sharma, V.K. / Sharma, Rakhi | IEEE | 2006