Long Duration Exposure Facility
(LDEF) Archive System

NASA Langley Research Center
Hampton, Virginia

Photographic Documentation


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Responsible Parties:
Page Content: William H. Kinard
Page Construction: Thomas H. See

Tray and Experiment Photographs

Go To Photographs

The LDEF spacecraft was a 14-faced (12 sides and two ends), open-grid structure on which a series of rectangular trays used for mounting experiment hardware were attached. Bays A01-F12 held the larger, rectangular, peripheral experiment trays that housed 72 of the 86 experiments, while the remaining 14 experiments resided within square-shaped experiment trays on either the space-facing (eight bays) or Earth-facing ends (six bays) of the spacecraft. The larger peripheral trays possessed dimensions of ~34" x 50" (~86.4 x 127 cm), while the space-facing and Earth-facing end trays measured ~34 in2 (86.4 cm2); three depths (i.e., 3" [7.62 cm], 6" [15.24 cm], and 12" [30.48 cm]) of experiment trays were available. All experiment trays were constructed of chromic-anodized 6061-T6 aluminum with the 6"- and 12"-deep trays utilizing 0.125" (3.175 mm) thick aluminum, and the 3"-deep variety utilizing 0.0625" (1.5875 mm) thick aluminum. A series of alphanumeric identifiers (i.e., a hardware code) was stamped into the bottom flange of each experiment tray; on the six and 12"-deep trays, this code was on the right side of the flange, while 3"-deep trays had the code stamped into the left side of the bottom flange. The typical experiment weight that could be accommodated by the experiment trays was ~180 to 200 lbs (~396 to 440 kilos) for the peripheral and end trays, respectively.

All experiment trays were held within their respective bays by 1.9" x 5" x 0.18" (4.8 x 12.7 x 4.5 cm) thick, 6061-T6 chromic-anodized aluminum clamps; each clamp was fastened to the spacecraft by three hex-head, 303 stainless steel bolts. Peripheral experiment trays utilized eight clamps to hold the tray in place, while end trays were affixed to the spacecraft by 12 clamps.

LDEF Numbering Scheme

The original numbering scheme for the spacecraft grid was established where components were identified using "Bay" and "Row" numbers (e.g., A03 identifies the experiment occupying Bay A and Row 3). In view of the original scheme not providing a process by which hardware other than the experiment trays could be numbered, the M&D SIG expanded on the original numbering scheme to include the end grids by assigning row numbers in a clockwise (Earth-facing end) or counterclockwise (space-facing end) direction. In this way, unique bay and row numbers could be assigned to other LDEF hardware (e.g., H15 for one of the space-end thermal panels) which, like the original scheme, provided information about the hardware's location on the spacecraft. The M&D SIG modified version of the original LDEF numbering scheme was approved and adopted by the other Special Investigation Groups (i.e., Materials, System, and Radiation) during deintegration activities at the Kennedy Space Center. For more details on the M&D SIG numbering scheme, interested parties are encouraged to read See et al., 1990 (referenced below), or Email T.H. See or W.H. Kinard.

The following links will display thumbnail images of photographs that were taken of the various LDEF experiments preflight (prior to integration) in 1984, on-orbit (during retrieval) in January 1990, and post-flight (after deintegration) between February and May, 1990. Unfortunately, an image for all tray locations for each of the three categories is not available.

Note: Every attempt has been made to minimize the download time of the thumbnails (e.g., 100 x 100 GIF files) associated with the links below. However, the actual download time for these pages will depend on the individual connection type and speed.

Experiment-Tray Photographs

The images are grouped by rows ...

Other Photographic Information and Archives Containing LDEF Images

General
Photographic
Survey 		Photographic Survey of the LDEF Mission, O'Neal, R.L., Levine, A.S., and Kiser, C.C., Langley Research Center.
STS-41C; LDEF Deployment Mission; April, 1984
KSC Kennedy Space Center Photographic Archive
JSC Johnson Space Center Photographic Archive
STS-32; LDEF Retrieval Mission; January, 1990
KSC Kennedy Space Center Photographic Archive
JSC Johnson Space Center Photographic Archive


Reference:
See, T., Allbrooks, M., Atkinson, D., Simon, C., and Zolensky, M. (1990) Meteoroid and Debris Impact Features Documented on the Long Duration Exposure Facility: A Preliminary Report, Space&Life Sciences Directorate, Solar System Exploration Division, Publication #84, JSC # 24608, pp. 585.

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