Gregory T. A. Kovacs, Stanford University, and
Robert Bruce Darling, UW Electrical Engineering
"Putting the Pieces Together:
Engineering Forensic Analysis of the Space Shuttle Columbia Accident"
Host: Howard Chizeck
December 4, 2003
EE 125, 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Post-talk reception (with Q&A
and poster presentation) will be held in AE105, Paul Allen Center, from
11:30 - 12:30.
Abstract:
In the early morning of February 1, 2003, the space
shuttle orbiter Columbia was lost on its re-entry back to Earth after
completing a flawless 16 day mission in space. The subsequent
investigation of the accident was the most extensive forensic effort in
history, and involved thousands of scientists, engineers, ground
searchers, and investigators from NASA and other agencies of the Federal
Government. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) was assembled
and headed by retired Admiral Hal Gehman to provide an independent
investigation into the cause and circumstances of the accident. Prof. Greg
Kovacs of Stanford University helped lead the team in debris analysis efforts at the
Kennedy Space Center in Cocoa Beach, Florida, and Professor Bruce Darling
of the University of Washington was responsible for the engineering
analysis of the electronic systems and avionics sensor data at the Johnson
Space Center in Houston, Texas. This talk will present the story of the
investigation from both of these perspectives and explain how the
electronic data and ground debris were analyzed to reveal the technical
causes responsible for the Columbia accident. The full report of the CAIB
was presented to the United States Congress in August of this year.
Biographies:
Dr. Gregory T. A. Kovacs is an Associate Professor
of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University with a courtesy
appointment in the Department of Medicine. He received a BASc degree in
Electrical Engineering from the University of British Columbia, an MS
degree in Bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and
a Ph.D. and an M.D. degree from Stanford University. His present research
areas include biomedical instruments and sensors, miniaturized spaceflight
hardware, and biotechnology. In addition, Dr. Kovacs is the Director of
Medical Device Technologies for the Astrobionics Program at the NASA Ames
Research Center, and for the Stanford-NASA National Biocomputation Center.
He helps direct a variety of projects spanning wearable physiologic
monitors, biosensor instruments for detection of chemical and biological
warfare agents and space biology applications, and free-flyer experiment
payloads.
He has published extensively in technical literature,
including authorship of a popular engineering textbook. He is a
long-standing member of the Defense Sciences Research Council (DARPA), and
has served as Associate Chair and Chairman. He also has extensive industry
experience including co-founding several companies, most recently Cepheid
in Sunnyvale, CA, supplier of advanced instrumentation for nucleic acid
diagnostics He received an NSF Young Investigator Award, held the Noyce
Family Chair, and was a Terman and then University Fellow at Stanford. He
is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological
Engineering. Dr. Kovacs is a private pilot, scuba diver, and a Fellow
National of the Explorers Club.
He has considerable field experience, including a
successful expedition to Palau in 2000 to locate and document downed WWII
aircraft in various underwater and jungle locations. Later that year, he
led a team of Stanford researchers with the U.S. Marine Corps at 29 Palms,
CA, for a successful field test of a portable biological toxin detection
system developed in his laboratory. Through the DSRC, he has also
participated in numerous military activities. He is currently involved in
hands-on field testing of NASA wearable monitors in high altitude
conditions, with several field tests completed in 2003.
He recently served as the Investigation Scientist for
the debris team of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, having
worked for the first four months after the accident at the Kennedy
Space Center, Florida. In this role, he carried out physical,
photographic, x-ray, chemical and other analyses on selected items from
the nearly 90,000 pounds of recovered debris and worked toward
understanding the nature of the accident.
Dr. Robert Bruce Darling was born in Johnson
City, Tennessee on March 15, 1958. He received the B.S.E.E. (with highest
honors), M.S.E.E., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the
Georgia Institute of Technology in 1980, 1982, and 1985, respectively.
He has held summer positions with Sperry-Univac,
Bristol, Tennessee, and Texas Instruments, Johnson City, Tennessee, and
from 1982 to 1983, he was with the physical Sciences Division of the
Georgia Tech Research Institute, Atlanta, Georgia. In 1985, he joined the
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle,
as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1990
and to Full Professor in 1999. From 1995 to 1996, he was a Visiting
Associate Professor at Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Currently he is
also an Adjunct Professor of Bioengineering and Director of the Electrical
Engineering Micro-Fabrication Laboratory and the Center for Applied
Microtechnology. His research interests include electron device physics,
device modeling, microfabrication, circuit design, optoelectronics,
sensors, electrochemistry, and instrumentation electronics. Three small
companies have been launched from technologies developed in his research
group at the University of Washington.
Dr. Darling is a senior member of the Institute of
Electrical and Electronic Engineers, a member of the American Physical
Society, the American Vacuum Society, the Optical Society of America, and
is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Washington. He
presently serves as a member of the Defense Sciences Research Council
which advises the DSO and MTO offices of DARPA. Over winter and spring of
2003, he served as a forensic investigator for the space shuttle orbiter
Columbia accident. Since September of 2003, he has been the Acting Chair
of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of
Washington.
The
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