Structural Health Monitoring for Future Space Vehicles

摘要

SHM it is certainly one of the key technologies required to achieve the goal for new space vehicles of having reduced maintenance costs with increased levels of safety. At the time being, sensor technology is at a good maturity level, but the integration of these technologies into the design process of a space vehicle has not received much consideration. The present document aims at giving a reference about the existing technologies on the matter and an instrument to recognize what are the issues for the integration of a SHM system into the design process of future space vehicles. In addition, the accident occurred to the Space Shuttle Columbia is analyzed in order to show how SHM could be effective for space vehicles safety improvements.