Survivable recorder to be tested

A flight data recorder for spacecraft is to be tested in 2006 by NASA and California-based Aerospace Corp.

Called the Re-entry Break-up Recorder (REBR), it will be 0.3m (1ft) in diameter, weigh 1kg (2.2lb) and have a heat shield, transmitter, sensors, batteries and data recorder. The REBR would transmit data recorded from a vehicle's systems immediately after it broke apart due to aerodynamic heating.

"One of the first uses of these spacecraft blackboxes may be on the Crew Exploration Vehicle. [Previously] the boxes would tend to burn up during re-entry," says NASA Ames Research Center project scientist Dan Rasky. The REBR could also be used on robotic spacecraft including small satellites.

Source: Flight International