Tank testing for Discovery

The external fuel tank that will help launch the space shuttle Discovery on its next mission arrived two weeks ago at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre.

Designated ET-119, the tank will eventually be mated to the twin white solid rocket boosters and the orbiter Discovery.

anticipates launching the Discovery mission STS-121 in May. But the agency is still working to verify that changes to the design of the shuttle's external tank will result in a safer launch. Upcoming wind tunnel tests are expected to offer important engineering data that will help determine the feasibility of a May launch.

'The thing that is going to speed up getting Discovery off the ground is not work at Kennedy,' space shuttle programme manager Wayne Hale said, 'but the engineering analysis and tests that go toward proving that this launch vehicle is safe to fly.'

In Iowa Joe Gray, leader of the X-ray research group at Iowa State University's Centre for Nondestructive Evaluation, is studying how X-ray backscatter imaging and computer simulation modelling can help NASA look through the spray-on foam that insulates and protects the shuttle's external fuel tank.