R. Russell, NASA, KSC, FL
The Space Shuttle Orbiter has well exceeded its original design life of 10 years or 100 missions. The Orbiter Project Office (OPO) has sponsored several activities to address aging vehicle concerns, including a Corrosion Control Review Board (CCRB), a mid-life certification program, and most recently the formation of the Aging Orbiter Working Group (AOWG).
The AOWG was chartered in 2004 as a proactive group which provides the OPO oversight for aging issues such as corrosion, non-destructive inspection, non-metallics, wiring and subsystems. The core team consists of mainly representatives from the Materials and Processes Problem Resolution Team (M&P PRT) and Safety and Mission Assurance (S&MA). Subsystem engineers and subject matter experts are called in as required.
The AOWG has functioned by forming issues based sub-teams. Examples of completed sub-teams include adhesives, wiring and wing leading edge metallic materials. Current sub-teams include Composite Over-Wrapped Pressure Vessels (COPV), elastomeric materials and mechanisms.
Summary: This paper will provide a summary of the activities of the Aging Orbiter Working Group (AOWG). The AOWG is a proactive, issues based group designed to provide the Orbiter Project Office insight to aging Orbiter issues such as corrosion, non-destructive evaluation, non-metallic materials, wiring and subsystems.
