New NASA Software Monitors Space Station Gyroscopes

Aug. 13, 2007

Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-3749
katherine.trinidad@xxxxxxxx

John Bluck
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
650-604-5026
jbluck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lynnette B. Madison
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
lmadison@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

RELEASE: 07-201

NEW NASA SOFTWARE MONITORS SPACE STATION GYROSCOPES

HOUSTON - NASA has added a new computer program to help monitor the
four gyroscopes that keep the International Space Station properly
oriented without the use of rocket fuel. During a spacewalk on
Monday, two astronauts from the space shuttle Endeavour removed and
replaced a gyroscope that failed in late 2006.

Computer scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field,
Calif., designed the new software for the space station. The
Inductive Monitoring System will be added to a group of existing
tools to identify and track problems related to the gyroscopes.

"If the system does something unexpected, the software alerts ground
controllers that something is different, an anomaly, and that allows
them to analyze the situation and take preventive measures as
necessary," said David Iverson, the computer scientist at Ames who
spearheaded the five year-effort to develop the software.

During its development, researchers used the software to analyze
several months of normal space station gyroscope data collected by
the International Space Station Mission Control Center at NASA's
Johnson Space Center, Houston. In these tests, problems with the
gyroscopes were noticed long before the previous system flagged
glitches. NASA started using the software earlier this year.

The software program also has been used in F-18 fighter planes and by
the space shuttle's leading edge impact detection system, as well as
for electric power plant and water quality monitoring.

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station


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