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Space Shuttle Main Propulsion System Anomaly Detection: A Case Study

Metadata Updated: December 6, 2023

The space shuttle main engine (SSME) is part of the Main Propnlsion System (MPS) which is an extremely complex system containing several sub-systems and components, each of which must work precisely in order to achieve a successful mission. A critical component under study is the flow control valve (FCV) which controls the pressure of the gaseous hydrogen between the SSME and the external fuel tank. The FCV has received added attention since a Space Shuttle Mission in November 2008, where it was discovered during the mission that an anomaly had occurred in one of the three FCV's. Subsequent inspection revealed that one FCV cracked during ascent. This type of fault is of high criticality because it can lead to potentially catastrophic gaseous hydrogen leakage. A supervised learning method known as Virtual Sensors (VS), and an unsupervised learning method known as the Inductive Monitoring System (IMS) were used to detect anomalies related to the FCV in the MPS. Both algorithms identify the time of the anomaly in a multi-dimensional time series of temperatures, pressures, and control signals related to the FCV. This discovery corroborates the results of the inspection and also reveals the time at which the anomaly likely occurred. The methods were applied to data obtained from the March 2009 launch of Space Shuttle Discovery to determine whether an anomaly occurred in the same sub-system. According to our models, the FCV SUb-system showed nominal behavior during ascent.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date November 12, 2020
Metadata Updated Date December 6, 2023
Data Update Frequency irregular

Metadata Source

Harvested from NASA Data.json

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date November 12, 2020
Metadata Updated Date December 6, 2023
Publisher Dashlink
Maintainer
Identifier DASHLINK_511
Data First Published 2012-01-19
Data Last Modified 2020-01-29
Public Access Level public
Data Update Frequency irregular
Bureau Code 026:00
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://data.nasa.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 51526c20-33e7-468f-b7a0-9ef2c093616f
Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
Homepage URL https://c3.nasa.gov/dashlink/resources/511/
Program Code 026:029
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 57eee4cd6993f2ac20f9a7b0792ee3df9990eda32e844842743b98a42f489e6f
Source Schema Version 1.1

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