Case Study: NASA achieves safer shuttle re-entries with 3D Systems' Geomagic digital inspection

Nasa Uses Digital Inspection to Ensure Shuttle Safety

3D Systems’ Geomagic software partners with NASA to address a critical safety challenge: detecting and assessing microscopic damage to the ceramic thermal-protection tiles on the underside of the Space Shuttle caused by foam and debris. After the Columbia disaster, NASA needed a reliable, fast way to inspect tiles in orbit—where lighting is limited and decisions must be made quickly—to determine whether damage could threaten safe re-entry.

Using Neptec’s laser scanner mounted on the shuttle’s robotic arm, NASA captures high-resolution 3D scans in flight that are transmitted to Johnson Space Center and processed automatically in Geomagic to produce detailed digital models. Engineers use those models to reproduce and test damage in the Arc Jet facility or to plan in-space repairs if needed. The workflow has sped inspections, reduced training needs, and provided robust, validated assessments—on two Discovery missions the analysis showed damage was not severe enough to endanger re-entry.

NASA

Rob Black

Geomagic Account Manager