One of the many Texas Engineering Landmarks in celebration of Texas ASCE’s Centennial: 1913-2013 “Engineering a Better Texas.” Visit them all!
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NOTE: Public tours of the NBL are available through Space Center Houston (
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Sonny Carter Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, ASCE Texas Section Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement 1997
Since the mid-1960s, neutral buoyancy has been an invaluable tool for testing procedures, developing hardware and training astronauts. This neutrally buoyant condition simulates reduced gravity sufficiently for the astronaut to practice future on-orbit procedures, such as extravehicular activities (EVA) and to work through simulation exercises to solve problems encountered on-orbit.
The Sonny Carter Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory was built to facilitate training of NASA astronauts preparing for the assembly of the international space station. Serving as a simulated weightless training and testing center, it is the largest enclosed diving facility in the US, including a 6.2 million gallon, 40-foot deep tank (62m long, 31m wide, and 12m deep) - accommodating life-sized replicas of space hardware. The design includes special structural details in the tank floor, supported by its walls, to accommodate vertical and horizontal movements. Thousands of mechanical tension splices were made on horizontal and vertical reinforcements. To keep the water clear and moving at less than one foot per second, accommodations were made within the structure to embed piping for the elaborate filtration system into the pool’s walls and foundation. Control offices and deck structures are supported by the pool walls, which include pool skimmers and sockets for portable jib cranes located around the perimeter.
WHAT IS NEUTRAL BUOYANCY?
“Neutral Buoyancy” is the term used to describe an underwater balance between floating and sinking. Achieved by a combination of weights and floatation, articles configured to be neutrally buoyant "hover" under water. Not only does this give trainees a sense of zero-g, but large, neutrally buoyant items can be easily manipulated much like in orbit. While it is not a perfect analogue, neutral buoyancy is currently as close as we can come Earthside for large-scale and long duration testing, and, so, the best available method for EVA training.
COST SAVING DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION!
The NBL was created within a building originally designed by WHR Architects for McDonnell Douglas for the engineering and design of various space station components including a high bay area for the construction of full size mock-ups, and large high bay area for final test and assembly of flight ready components. These functions expended (at least at this location), McDonnell Douglas modified the building to accommodate the Sonny Carter Training Facility/Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL) and conveyed the building to NASA.
Innovative systems and methods as well as careful consideration of the proximity to existing building structural elements were used to achieve the 28.5 foot deep excavation and other aspects of the facility’s conversion. [There is an excellent PowerPoint on the construction of the NBL via the official site (
visit link) -- click on NBL Construction.] The tank was designed to meet ACI “Environmental Engineering Concrete Structures” standards, and construction joints and concrete mix designs were given careful attention to minimize shrinkage-related cracking. Several waterproofing systems on the inside and outside of the tank minimize any leakage; the tank’s cantilevered design serves to resist outward pressure when the pool is full and inward pressure when empty to allow for tank and water quality maintenance activities.
Beyond the pool, related buildings were adapted for breathing gas supply and water treatment facilities. Astronaut and diver equipment support areas were added, as were technicians’, mock-up assembly and receiving areas. Test conductors and directors were located in a freestanding office overlooking the tank to provide unobstructed observation. Other areas included electronic labs and a clean room (Class 10,000) capable of accommodating a space system transport vehicle.
WHO WAS SONNY CARTER?
Manley L. "Sonny" Carter Jr. Aug. 15, 1947 – April 5, 1991
Late astronaut M. L. "Sonny" Carter was instrumental in developing many of the current space-walking techniques used by the astronauts. Selected into the astronaut program in 1984, Carter’s first mission was aboard STS-33. He was training as a crew member aboard STS-42 when on April 5, 1991, he died in a commuter plane crash near New Brunswick, Georgia. Before he became an astronaut, Carter was a Navy doctor and aviator, and a soccer player for the North American Soccer league.
Records:
Owner- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Architect- nip/na
Engineer- Haynes Whaley Associates, Inc. Structural Engineering, John D. Rohrer PE, Vice President
Contractor/Developer- McDonnell Douglas Realty Company (Boeing Realty Corporation), Gary A. Powley
Timeline of the NBL -- Evolution of water training (source NASA (
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WIF-->WETF-->NBS-->NBL
----Reduced part–task training
----Increased integrated training
----Increased training quality
----Better timeline fidelity
----Improvement in facility loading
----(training time vs. reconfiguration time)
Apr 1995: NBL"ground" breaking (modifications to existing facility)
Dec 1995: Tank construction complete water supply/filtration construction
May 1996: Tank fill complete (28 days)
Oct 1996: Systems certification complete integrated suited testing begins
Dec 1996: ORI Certification for single side operations; NASA assumes ownership
Jun 1997: ORI Certification for dual (5 suit) operations
Oct 1998: MOD accepts responsibility for NBL from Space and Life Sciences as DX Division formed
Jan 2002: Training EMU processing and EVA tool processing moved to NBL from offsite facility (USA)
Mar 2002: MOD accepts responsibility for LMF from Engineering Directorate
FURTHER READING:
About the Sonny Carter Training Facility (official site) (
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wikipedia “Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory” (
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TripAdvisor “Space Center Houston Photo: Sonny Carter Training Facility“ (
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Facebook “NASA Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory” (
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NASA Neutral Buoyancy Labratory (NBL) Tour (youtube) (
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WHR Architects: NASA Johnson Space Center Sonny Carter Training Facility – Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory -- “WHR designed and installed The Sonny Carter Training Facility and Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL) to act as a weightless simulation training ground for astronauts in conjunction with Space Station Alpha.” (
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Pulling G: Human Responses to High and Low Gravity By Erik Seedhouse p.155 (
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Technology Today 2009 Issue 2 “Neutral Buoyancy Lab’s 46% Oxygen” (
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Photos! (
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