STS FAQ

The STS FAQ collects questions and answers related to the real STS, not the various available addons.

Communications

What is the purpose of the Ku-Band antenna?

The Ku-Band antenna gets used for:

High speed communication with ground stations
Communication with the TDRSS.
As rendezvous radar for tracking the rendezvous target.

How is the RMS arm attached in the cargo bay while launch and reentry?

The RMS arm is held in place by a set of mechanic latches.

Thermal protection system

If there will be a damaged heat shield how will the crew change it?

Currently, there's no no way to repair the orbiter's heat shield or thermal protection system. The TPS consists of both thermal blankets, silica tiles and reinforced carbon carbon(RCC) nosecap and wing leading edge panels.

How is a damaged Thermal Protection System detected?

During launch and ascent, there's a whole bunch of ground tracking cameras and radars that observes the Space Shuttle for any debris events. There's even a set of six cameras on the shuttle itself!

Here's the locations of those cameras:

In LOX feedline fairing(black object on the middle of the External Tank). This one transmitts directly to the ground during launch
3 cameras on each Solid Rocket Booster. These cameras are not available "live" but they're retrieved when the spent SRB casings have been towed back to Port Canaveral.

And when on-orbit, the crew will use a 15 m long Candian built Orbiter Boom Sensor System to get a real close up of the TPS. The OBSS is equipped with a Laser Camera System, Laser Dynamic Range Imager and black&white Intensified TeleVision Camera.

Also during rendezvous with the International Space Station, the orbiter will do a 360° pitch-around manuever that will allow the ISS crew to photograph the TPS that will later be downlinked to the ground.