Students Aid NASA in Columbia Recovery
By Doreen Harrell

The nation was shocked and saddened early this year when the Columbia Space Shuttle disintegrated in the skies of East Texas following a 17-day space mission. In the aftermath, NASA struggled to manage the tragedy, and in the late afternoon of Tuesday, February 4, 2003, NASA disseminated an email requesting help from experienced individuals who were familiar with the operation of advanced GPS receivers, which are capable of precise data logging capabilities, to help map the recovery of shuttle debris.

Promptly, a team of two professors and 10 students from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi was organized in response to NASA’s request. “It was our civic duty to lend a hand,” said Dr. Gary Jeffress, Professor of Geographic Information Science (GIS). “It was exciting to be involved in such a historic event, but also sad at the same time.”

The team Included Dr. Gary Jeffress and Dr. Peter Kuntu-Mensah along with GIS students, Ravinder Rawat, Jason Page, Cyrus Bakhtiari, Brad Lipscombe, Brett Walker, Steve Wisnoski, Matt Struths, Caleb Howard, Zach Savory and Jill Savory.

The team arrived in Nacogdoches, Texas one day after NASA’s request. Stephen F. Austin University President and Former Provost of A&M-Corpus Christi, Dr. Tito Guerrero, were instrumental in assisting A&M-Corpus Christi professors and students with lodging and other travel essentials.

As recovery efforts began at 6 a.m., the A&M-Corpus Christi volunteers were placed with other volunteers in groups of ten, to locate, flag and log data for each piece of debris that was recovered. A law enforcement officer, whose job was to collect the recovered debris, was assigned to each group for security purposes.

“What they were trying to do was piece together the shuttle as much as they were able to and then attempt to figure out what went wrong,” said Jeffress. “And if we could help them do that, we were glad to help.”

During the search, there was a set of priorities for recovery efforts. Highest priority was set for human remains, along with toxic chemicals and electronics which contained flight information. Once a piece of debris had been found, members from the A&M-Corpus Christi team, equipped with GPS receivers, would estimate the location within one meter. The teams recovered up to thirty pieces of shuttle remains a day, due to the wide area of land the debris had been scattered over.

“It was hard to see such a beautiful piece of machinery in pieces all over the countryside,” said Jeffress.
The pieces ranged in size from a dime to approximately three feet in diameter. Structural components of the wing, calculators, melted plastic with NASA insignia, charred metal and electronic pieces were examples of the debris found on a daily basis. Parts of the shuttle were responsible for damaging vehicles, houses and many buildings.

Simultaneously, as the volunteers from A&M-Corpus Christi were recovering Columbia debris, A&M-Corpus Christi senior, GIS student Rick Smith, was arduously gathering and mapping all incoming information at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, LA.

While taking part in a research grant to provide technical support in developing software, Smith was on his way to participate in an internship at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi when he heard Columbia had gone down. Originally from Palestine, Texas, Rick had been visiting family and was surprised such a horrific event was taking place in East Texas. When Smith reported to work, officials discovered that he was far more educated in the field of GIS than they had anticipated.

Immediately, Smith was put in charge of all incoming data from satellites, eyewitness accounts and data gathered in the field. He was equipped with a vehicle, servers, computers and printers and dispatched to Barksdale AFB.

“GIS was used extensively during this process to contain points and create maps based on the incoming data,” said Smith. “The maps were used for strategic planning, deciding where to search and logging areas previously searched.”

Smith, whose work supports five national agencies including NASA, NTSB and the EPA, is responsible for gathering data from many different entities and creating 10-15 maps a day that coordinate all of the data points gathered.

“It was a serious environment in which Johnson Space Center, Kennedy Space Center and all branches of the Federal Government were working efficiently for one cause,” said Smith. “It was nice to be a productive part of the team.”

Technically, Smith felt very prepared for this assignment due to his education. He credits A&M-Corpus Christi and its GIS department for his ability to deliver a product that is useful in a real life situation. Cartography with Dr. Joseph Loon and GIS I, II and III with Dr. Stacey Lyle are courses that Smith directly drew from during the Columbia recovery effort.

“Rick was able to become instantly productive on a national project that required extreme detail and knowledge,” said Lyle, Assistant Professor of Geographic Information Science. “Rick was shocked because he didn’t think he was learning the cutting edge of technology.”

The GIS program at A&M-Corpus Christi is different from other GIS programs worldwide. Rather than being located in the geography department, as most are, A&M-Corpus Christi’s GIS program is based in computer and math science.

“We can apply the science of GIS, but we also teach the development of the GIS technology,” said Lyle. “This makes our students more valuable and sought after by NASA and other leading technology developers.”