The NASA debris radar for characterizing static and dynamic ascent debris events for safety of flight

During the NASA “Columbia” accident investigation, the root cause of the accident was ultimately attributed to liberated foam debris damaging the left wing heat shield during ascent. After the accident, The Space Shuttle Program Systems Engineering and Integration (SE&I) Office tasked a joint AFRL, NASA, and US Navy team to create a day/night radar sensor to characterize the debris threat during the ascent phase of a Space Shuttle launch, and further identify/define the return signals as seen by the radar. Ultimately the team co-developed the “NASA Debris Radar (NDR),” a three-sensor C- and X-Band Doppler and radar imaging system that provided Shuttle mission managers unprecedented all weather insight into Shuttle dynamic debris events. This paper will briefly summarize the development and capabilities of the NDR and highlight exemplars of the processed radar data products, demonstrating how these products provided unprecedented insight into the complex ascent debris environment of the Shuttle. The NDR was successfully employed on every “post-accident” Shuttle mission.