ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 6, 1997 TAG: 9704070094
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
If the generator continues to lose voltage, the shuttle may be forced to make an emergency landing.
A weakening electric generator on space shuttle Columbia could force the astronauts to cut short their 16-day science mission and make an emergency landing as early as Monday.
The generator, called a fuel cell, has been losing voltage since Friday's liftoff, maybe even before, NASA mission operations director Jeff Bantle said Saturday. If the loss continues at a high rate, the seven astronauts would have to turn off that fuel cell and land, he said.
Brief jumps in voltage were detected in that fuel cell shortly before launch, but shuttle managers determined the unit was working properly and cleared Columbia for flight.
Columbia's two other fuel cells are working fine, but National Aeronautics and Space Administration flight rules require that all three be operating properly in orbit.
Neither the shuttle nor crew was in any immediate danger, and laboratory operations were proceeding normally, Bantle said.
``We take fuel cell performance very seriously,'' he said.
The fuel cells use hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity and water in orbit. If those two fuels mixed - a possibility when voltage drops significantly in a fuel cell - the unit could explode.
Bantle cautioned that the fuel cell would be shut down long before there would be any chance for the fuels to mix.
And he emphasized that the voltage could stabilize at any moment, allowing the astronauts to remain in orbit.
LENGTH: Short : 42 linesby CNB