Diagnostics of thermal insulation and heat protection coating of space ships and rockets by holographic subsurface radar

Abstract

Analysis of critical conditions on the spacecrafts Columbia (USA), and the Buran (Russia) related to defects in insulation and heat-protection coatings have been performed. It is shown that the existing methods of non-destructive testing, including ultrasound, failed to prevent the disaster of the Space Shuttle Columbia and serious incidents involving spacecraft Buran during its only flight. A new method for using the holographic subsurface radar RASCAN-5/15000 which reveals the internal defects of the coating was proposed and experiments on models of thermal insulation coatings were performed. The experimental results were displayed in the form of radar images on which defects in the heat insulation provided a good contrast.