Purdue helps design space shuttle test

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., March 23 (UPI) -- A Purdue University aerospace researcher and U.S. space agency scientists have designed an experiment to collect data on the space shuttle Discovery.

Professor Steven Schneider said the "roughness element" was installed among the shuttle's heat-shielding panels, raised about a quarter of an inch, and will be used to study how air turns from "laminar," or smooth, to turbulent.

Schneider said data from the research will help in designing the heat shield for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Orion crew exploration vehicle that will be used in future missions to the moon and Mars.

He said data from the experiment also will help engineers design "hypersonic" aircraft that travel faster than Mach 5, nearly 4,000 mph.

Discovery, launched March 15, is now docked at the International Space Station and is scheduled to return to Earth on March 28. Data from the experiment will be collected as the shuttle re-enters the Earth's atmosphere.