Advanced Inspection of Thermal Protection Systems
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Begun in 1973, the Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation (QNDE) is the premier international NDE meeting designed to provide an interface between research and early engineering through the presentation of current ideas and results focused on facilitating a rapid transfer to engineering development.
This site provides free, public access to papers presented at the annual QNDE conference between 1983 and 1999, and abstracts for papers presented at the conference since 2001.
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Abstract
The X-33/Venturestar program is a single stage to orbit design that is intended to replace the existing Space Shuttle system. Among the many differences between the X-33 and the Shuttle are those aimed at reducing maintenance costs and schedules. One of the most significant contributors to maintenance on the Shuttle is the thermal protection system (TPS) which consists of ceramic tiles in the hot areas and insulating blankets in the cooler areas. Rohr is the TPS integrator for the TPS on the X-33 and significant changes have been made to produce a durable TPS system with minimum maintenance requirements.