Historical Technology Overview

1995—WSDS

Wake Shield Data Acquisition System

NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) awarded a contract to Invocon to design a data gathering system for pressure information in orbit. Mounted on the Wake Shield Facility Satellite. The system collected data on the pressures experienced on the surface of the Satellite when the RCS (Reaction Control System) jets on the Shuttle were fired during rendezvous and grappling operations. The data was needed to verify NASA models pertaining to the potentially destructive forces that will impinge upon the Mir and the International Space Station (ISS) during docking and close proximity, station-keeping maneuvers.

The system flew on STS-69 in September 1995 and STS-80 in November of 1996. The mission data from the entire experiment was successfully obtained. Data obtained from these missions was used to reformulate NASA pressure models.