|Issue: Volume: 24 Issue: 5 (May 2001) When it comes to space
travel, the heat is on. During each of their Earth-orbiting
missions, NASA's four space shuttles are subjected to
temperatures ranging from minus 250 degrees Fahrenheit in space
to nearly 3000 degrees during reentry into the Earth's
atmosphere. Thus the ability of the orbiter to take the heat is
critical to ensuring the safety of the crew and on-board
equipment. Because of this, the surface of the orbiter, which is
covered by 24,000 protective thermal tiles, is carefully
scrutinized after each flight. Typically, the process of
assessing the quality of each and every one of the tiles is a
painstaking manual effort. Fortunately for the workers in the
trenches, there is a laser light at the end of the tedious
tunnel. Engineers from NASA's Ames Research Center and the
Boeing Company recently delivered a first-of-its-kind, portable
3D laser scanner to NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The scanner,
which uses a digital camera and lasers in a measurement techn