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2005 NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS
Astronaut Steve Robinson Visits NAS Facility
During a visit to NASA Ames Research Center on October 13, 2005, STS-114 Mission Specialist, Dr. Stephen Robinson stopped by the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) facility for a tour of the 10,240-processor Columbia supercomputer and a demonstration of a cutting-edge visualization tool, the hyperwall.
Caption: Astronaut Steve Robinson (far left) talks with NAS Division scientists in front of the hyperwall. From far right: Mike Aftosmis, Stuart Rogers, Scott Murman. (Click image to enlarge)
Robinson's visit included a presentation by Columbia integration lead William Thigpen, who outlined the process of how Columbia came into full production -- from conception to work being done on the system today. Following the overview of the system, aerospace engineer Stuart Rogers described the valuable debris-transport analysis support provided by the NAS Division during the Space Shuttle Discovery mission, including evaluation of foam incidents during ascent using an Ames-developed debris analysis software package.
As part of the presentations, visualization lead Chris Henze demonstrated the hyperwall's capabilities, while showing data generated using the debris analysis software. The hyperwall, an innovative visualization tool used to display and analyze complex data sets over an array of 49 flat-panel screens, served as a critical tool to STS-114 Space Shuttle Discovery reentry.
The astronaut's visit was exciting for the NAS team -- who had the opportunity to explain face-to-face to a Discovery crew member how their hard work aided in the success of the return-to-flight mission -- and to catch up with a former NAS colleague. (Robinson worked in the NAS facility from 1975 to 1989.) Robinson gave a heartfelt thanks to the NAS team, on behalf of his family and the other crew members, for assisting in Discovery's safe return.
Adding to his numerous achievements to date, Robinson was the first astronaut to transmit a podcast while in orbit, and the only astronaut to have repaired the exterior of the shuttle while in flight. On the Discovery mission, launched July 26, 2005, Robinson manually removed gap fillers between the thermal insulation tiles (from the belly of the spacecraft) on the last of three spacewalks scheduled one day before landing on August 6.
Robinson's career at NASA Ames began with a student co-op in 1975 at the NAS facility while finishing his undergraduate degree in mechanical and aeronautical engineering at the University of California, Davis. After graduation, he was hired in 1979 as a research scientist in the fields of fluid dynamics, aerodynamics, experimental instrumentation, and computational scientific visualization. While working at Ames, Robinson earned his masters and doctorate degrees in mechanical engineering at Stanford University, with a research emphasis in turbulence.
- Helen Dinh
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