When NASA asked…“How can we align an object on earth so that it functions reliably?”
WARREN-KNIGHT had the answer.
Mission:
Surfaces on the International Space Station have to withstand both searing sunlight and frigid shadows. To design against warping, NASA needed to know how much distortion to expect.
Problem:
One of the challenges designing equipment to operate in space is the extremes between 250°F on the sunny side and -250°F in the shade. To test critical components, NASA asked Warren-Knight to invent a solution.
The test needed a vacuum chamber with special lighting to replicate the three-dimensional environment that would exist on the orbiting Space Station with continuous shifting between temperatures of intense heat and near absolute zero.
Solution:
The solution employed a device used by Warren-Knight in systems as earthly as keeping track of a dam’s structural integrity and measuring the sway of a skyscraper. An array of electronic level transducers sensitive enough to measure the vibration from a passing truck were linked to a computerized system that provided real-time data as the light source was moved across the test object’s surface.
Using state-of-the-art custom manufactured components, Warren-Knight brings the same problem-solving expertise NASA required to such tasks as aligning military ship and aircraft components, useful in a wide array of industrial and infrastructural settings.
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