We have adapted a fiber optic and television camera imaging system for operational use in the crew cabin on space shuttle orbiter (orbiter) flights. It allows on-orbit inspection into small or confined spaces. Its main use is in-flight maintenance procedures such as examining cabin under-floor air filters, but it has also been used to observe orbiter experiments. A recent change to less sensitive cameras has dictated that a brighter light be emitted from the end of the fiberscope. We have consequently upgraded the battery-powered self-illumination capability by several orders of magnitude, which was a challenge with respect to limited touch-temperature, small admittance (area and solid-angle product) of the illuminating portion of the fiber bundle, and efficiency of getting light from a tungsten-halogen source into the fiber bundle.
Battery-powered fiberscope imaging system for space-shuttle operations
Photonics for Space Environments ; 1993 ; Orlando,FL,United States
Proc. SPIE ; 1953
1993-09-15
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
Battery-powered fiberscope imaging system for space-shuttle operations
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