ISS-28 Ron Garan prepares the Reentry Breakup Recorder

A Reentry Breakup Recorder (REBR) is a device that is designed to be placed aboard a

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...

to record pertinent data when the spacecraft (intentionally) breaks up as it re-enters Earth's atmosphere. The device records data regarding the thermal, acceleration, rotational and other stresses the vehicle is subject to. In the final stages it transmits the data back to a laboratory before it is destroyed when it hits the surface.

History

Two REBRs were launched in January 2011 on the Japanese

Kounotori 2 Kounotori 2 (こうのとり2号機, "white stork" ), also known as HTV-2, was launched in January 2011 and was the second flight of the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). It was launched by the ...

transfer vehicle. One recorded the subsequent re-entry of that vehicle, and the other was placed aboard the

Johannes Kepler ATV The ''Johannes Kepler'' ATV, or Automated Transfer Vehicle 002 (ATV-002), was an uncrewed cargo spacecraft built to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). It was launched on February 16, 2011 by the European Space Agency (ESA). ''Johanne ...

, which reentered Earth's atmosphere on 21 June 2011. The Kounotori 2 vehicle re-entered on 30 March 2011. Its REBR successfully collected and returned its data; it survived the impact with the ocean and while floating continued to transmit. It took between 6 and 8 weeks to analyze the data. The second unit was intended to collect data during the reentry of the

(ATV-2); however the device failed to make contact after reentry and consequently no data was retrieved. Two other units were used successfully for

Kounotori 3 Kounotori 3 ( ja, こうのとり3号機; English: "white stork" ), also known as HTV-3, was the third flight of the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle. It was launched on 21 July 2012 to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the H ...

for its reentry on September 14, 2012, and

Edoardo Amaldi ATV The ''Edoardo Amaldi'' ATV, or Automated Transfer Vehicle 003 (ATV-003), was a European uncrewed cargo spacecraft, named after the 20th-century Italian physicist Edoardo Amaldi. The spacecraft was launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) on 2 ...

(ATV-3) on October 3, 2012.

Predecessor technology: image documentation of reentry and breakup

Earlier data collection from reentry and breakup was mostly visual and

spectrograph An optical spectrometer (spectrophotometer, spectrograph or spectroscope) is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify mate ...

ic. A particularly well-documented case is seen in a reentry and breakup over the South Pacific—recorded by a large team of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

and

ESA , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...

space agency personnel with extensive photographic image and video data collection, at multiple spectrographic wavelengths—occurred in September 2008, following the first mission of the ESA

cargo spacecraft Cargo spacecraft are robotic spacecraft that are designed to carry cargo, possibly to support space stations' operation by transporting food, propellant and other supplies. This is different from a space probe, whose missions are to conduct sci ...

—the

Automated Transfer Vehicle The Automated Transfer Vehicle, originally Ariane Transfer Vehicle or ATV, was an expendable cargo spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), used for space cargo transport in 2008–2015. The ATV design was launched to orbit fiv ...

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

''—to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

(ISS) in March 2008. On 5 September 2008, ''Jules Verne'' undocked from the ISS and maneuvered to an orbital position below the ISS. It remained in that orbit until the night of 29 September. At 10:00:27 UTC, ''Jules Verne'' started its first de-orbit burn of 6 minutes, followed by a second burn of 15 minutes at 12:58:18 UTC. At 13:31 GMT, ''Jules Verne'' re-entered the atmosphere at an altitude of , and then completed its destructive

re-entry Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...

as planned over the following 12 minutes, depositing debris in the

South Pacific Ocean South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

southwest of

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

. This was recorded with video and still photography at night by two aircraft flying over the South Pacific for purposes of data gathering. The NASA documentary of the project is in the gallery, below.

Gallery

Image:Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle re-enters Earth's atmosphere.jpg, ''Jules Verne'' re-enters the Earth's atmosphere southwest of

, September, 2008. File:Behind the Scenes of the ATV reentry.ogv, Behind the scenes of the ATV re-entry observation team. NASA, 2008

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Photo and diagram of the first REBRs
April 2011. Atmospheric entry Spacecraft communication Spacecraft instruments Articles containing video clips