What is “light bar testing”?

Multi tool use
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A photo of the Parker Solar Probe was captioned as follows:
In the Astrotech processing facility in Titusville, Florida, near NASA's Kennedy Space Center, on Tuesday, June 5, 2018, technicians and engineers perform light bar testing on NASA's Parker Solar Probe.
I wasn't able to find any references to this sort of process in NASA literature - even Armadillo's Ben Brockert was perplexed.
Is this something specific to the Parker probe, or a standard NDT process?
testing parker-solar-probe
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add a comment |
$begingroup$
A photo of the Parker Solar Probe was captioned as follows:
In the Astrotech processing facility in Titusville, Florida, near NASA's Kennedy Space Center, on Tuesday, June 5, 2018, technicians and engineers perform light bar testing on NASA's Parker Solar Probe.
I wasn't able to find any references to this sort of process in NASA literature - even Armadillo's Ben Brockert was perplexed.
Is this something specific to the Parker probe, or a standard NDT process?
testing parker-solar-probe
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
A photo of the Parker Solar Probe was captioned as follows:
In the Astrotech processing facility in Titusville, Florida, near NASA's Kennedy Space Center, on Tuesday, June 5, 2018, technicians and engineers perform light bar testing on NASA's Parker Solar Probe.
I wasn't able to find any references to this sort of process in NASA literature - even Armadillo's Ben Brockert was perplexed.
Is this something specific to the Parker probe, or a standard NDT process?
testing parker-solar-probe
$endgroup$
A photo of the Parker Solar Probe was captioned as follows:
In the Astrotech processing facility in Titusville, Florida, near NASA's Kennedy Space Center, on Tuesday, June 5, 2018, technicians and engineers perform light bar testing on NASA's Parker Solar Probe.
I wasn't able to find any references to this sort of process in NASA literature - even Armadillo's Ben Brockert was perplexed.
Is this something specific to the Parker probe, or a standard NDT process?
testing parker-solar-probe
testing parker-solar-probe
asked 6 hours ago


0xDBFB70xDBFB7
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1 Answer
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This test was performed to ensure that the 44 series of solar cells (or "strings") were still connected. After the acoustic and vibration testing, there was a chance that some of the electrical connections could have been broken, so the test used a bar of purple lasers (a "light bar") to verify that the strings were still functioning properly. A laser bar was used because it could test a single string at a time. Purple lasers happened to be on hand, and the solar cells function efficiently at that wavelength. Infrared lasers were also used.
Source:
- Watch Purple Lasers Light Up NASA's Parker Solar Probe in Test - Space.com
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2
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Nice! I've never even heard of a purple laser.
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– Organic Marble
4 hours ago
2
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I would have used a bunch of purple lensed LEDs taped to a stick and just held it a few cm away, but then again I don't work for NASA. Sharks with lasers!
$endgroup$
– uhoh
2 hours ago
add a comment |
Your Answer
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1 Answer
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active
oldest
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1 Answer
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active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
This test was performed to ensure that the 44 series of solar cells (or "strings") were still connected. After the acoustic and vibration testing, there was a chance that some of the electrical connections could have been broken, so the test used a bar of purple lasers (a "light bar") to verify that the strings were still functioning properly. A laser bar was used because it could test a single string at a time. Purple lasers happened to be on hand, and the solar cells function efficiently at that wavelength. Infrared lasers were also used.
Source:
- Watch Purple Lasers Light Up NASA's Parker Solar Probe in Test - Space.com
$endgroup$
2
$begingroup$
Nice! I've never even heard of a purple laser.
$endgroup$
– Organic Marble
4 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
I would have used a bunch of purple lensed LEDs taped to a stick and just held it a few cm away, but then again I don't work for NASA. Sharks with lasers!
$endgroup$
– uhoh
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
This test was performed to ensure that the 44 series of solar cells (or "strings") were still connected. After the acoustic and vibration testing, there was a chance that some of the electrical connections could have been broken, so the test used a bar of purple lasers (a "light bar") to verify that the strings were still functioning properly. A laser bar was used because it could test a single string at a time. Purple lasers happened to be on hand, and the solar cells function efficiently at that wavelength. Infrared lasers were also used.
Source:
- Watch Purple Lasers Light Up NASA's Parker Solar Probe in Test - Space.com
$endgroup$
2
$begingroup$
Nice! I've never even heard of a purple laser.
$endgroup$
– Organic Marble
4 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
I would have used a bunch of purple lensed LEDs taped to a stick and just held it a few cm away, but then again I don't work for NASA. Sharks with lasers!
$endgroup$
– uhoh
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
This test was performed to ensure that the 44 series of solar cells (or "strings") were still connected. After the acoustic and vibration testing, there was a chance that some of the electrical connections could have been broken, so the test used a bar of purple lasers (a "light bar") to verify that the strings were still functioning properly. A laser bar was used because it could test a single string at a time. Purple lasers happened to be on hand, and the solar cells function efficiently at that wavelength. Infrared lasers were also used.
Source:
- Watch Purple Lasers Light Up NASA's Parker Solar Probe in Test - Space.com
$endgroup$
This test was performed to ensure that the 44 series of solar cells (or "strings") were still connected. After the acoustic and vibration testing, there was a chance that some of the electrical connections could have been broken, so the test used a bar of purple lasers (a "light bar") to verify that the strings were still functioning properly. A laser bar was used because it could test a single string at a time. Purple lasers happened to be on hand, and the solar cells function efficiently at that wavelength. Infrared lasers were also used.
Source:
- Watch Purple Lasers Light Up NASA's Parker Solar Probe in Test - Space.com
answered 5 hours ago


called2voyage♦called2voyage
16.8k767126
16.8k767126
2
$begingroup$
Nice! I've never even heard of a purple laser.
$endgroup$
– Organic Marble
4 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
I would have used a bunch of purple lensed LEDs taped to a stick and just held it a few cm away, but then again I don't work for NASA. Sharks with lasers!
$endgroup$
– uhoh
2 hours ago
add a comment |
2
$begingroup$
Nice! I've never even heard of a purple laser.
$endgroup$
– Organic Marble
4 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
I would have used a bunch of purple lensed LEDs taped to a stick and just held it a few cm away, but then again I don't work for NASA. Sharks with lasers!
$endgroup$
– uhoh
2 hours ago
2
2
$begingroup$
Nice! I've never even heard of a purple laser.
$endgroup$
– Organic Marble
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
Nice! I've never even heard of a purple laser.
$endgroup$
– Organic Marble
4 hours ago
2
2
$begingroup$
I would have used a bunch of purple lensed LEDs taped to a stick and just held it a few cm away, but then again I don't work for NASA. Sharks with lasers!
$endgroup$
– uhoh
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
I would have used a bunch of purple lensed LEDs taped to a stick and just held it a few cm away, but then again I don't work for NASA. Sharks with lasers!
$endgroup$
– uhoh
2 hours ago
add a comment |
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