Social, Cultural and Educational Legacies - ER - NASA

Preventing Land MineExplosions—Saving Liveswith Rocket PowerEvery month, approximately 500people—including civilians andchildren—are killed or maimed byaccidental contact with land mines.Estimates indicate as many as 60to 120 million active land mines arescattered across more than 70 countries,including areas where hostilitieshave ceased. Worldwide, many of themore than 473,000 surviving victimsrequire lifelong care.In 1990, the US Army solicited existingor short-term solutions to in-field mineneutralization with the ideal solutionidentified as a device that was effective,versatile, inexpensive, easy to carry,and easy to use, but not easily convertedto a military weapon.Rocket Science—An Intelligent SolutionThe idea of using leftover shuttlepropellant to address this humanitariancrisis can be traced back to late 1998when shuttle contractor Thiokol(Utah) suggested that a flare, loadedwith propellant, could do the job.To validate the concept, engineerstested their idea on small motors.These miniature rocket motors, nolarger than a D-size battery, were usedin research and development effortsfor ballistics characterization. Withsome refinements, by late 1999, theflare evolved into a de-mining devicethat measures 133 mm (5 in.) in lengthby 26 mm (1 in.) in diameter, weighsonly 90 grams (3.2 oz), and burns forapproximately 60 seconds. NASAand Thiokol defined an agreement touse the excess propellant.The Thiokol de-mining flare used excess shuttlepropellant resulting from Solid Rocket Motorcasting operations to burn through land minecasings and safely ignite the explosives containedwithin. The flares were activated with an electricmatch or a pyrotechnic fuse.Ignition Without Detonation—How It WorksThe de-mining flare device is ignited byan electric match or a pyrotechnic fuse;it neutralizes mines by quickly burningthrough the casing and igniting theexplosive fill without detonation.The benefit of this process includesminimizing the destructive effect ofdemolition, thereby preventing shrapnelfrom forming out of metallic andthick-cased targets. The flares are simpleand safe to use, and require minimaltraining. The flare tube can be mountedon a three-legged stand for betterpositioning against the target case.These de-mining flares weretested against a variety of mines atvarious installations. These trialswent well and generated much interest.Thiokol funded further developmentto improve production methods andease deployment.All branches of the US armed serviceshave purchased the flare. It has beensuccessfully used in Kosovo, Lebanon,Jordan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti,Nicaragua, Iraq, and Afghanistan, andhas been shown to be highly effective.LifeShear Cutters to theRescue—Powerful Jaws MoveLife-threatening ConcreteHi-Shear Technology Corporation ofTorrance, California, used NASAderivedtechnology to develop apyrotechnic-driven cutting tool thatneutralized a potentially life-threateningsituation in the bombed Alfred P. MurrahFederal Building in Oklahoma City,Oklahoma, in April 1995. Using Jawsof Life heavy-duty rescue cutters, afirefighter from the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency Task Force teamsliced through steel reinforcing cablesthat suspended an 1,814.4-kg (2-ton)slab of concrete, dropping the slab sixstories. It took only 30 seconds to set upand use the cutters.The shuttle used pyrotechnic chargesto release the vehicle from itshold-down posts on the launch pad,the Solid Rocket Boosters from theExternal Tank after their solid fuel wasspent, and the tank from the shuttlejust prior to orbit. This type ofpyrotechnical separation technologywas applied in the early 1990s to thedevelopment of a new generation oflightweight portable emergency rescuecutters for freeing accident victimsfrom wreckage. Known as LifeShearcutters, they were developed under acooperative agreement that teamedNASA and Hi-Shear TechnologyCorporation. Hi-Shear incorporated thispyrotechnic feature into their Jaws ofLife heavy-duty rescue cutters. Thedevelopment project was undertakento meet the need of some 40,000 USfire departments for modern, low-costemergency cutting equipment.Hi-Shear Technology Corporationdeveloped, manufactured, and suppliedpyrotechnically actuated thrusters,492Industries and Spin-offs