NASA'S SPACE SHUTTLE IS LAUNCHED BY THREE LIQUID PROPELLANT ENGINES AND TWO SOLID MOTOR BOOSTERS.

NASA'S SPACE SHUTTLE IS LAUNCHED BY THREE LIQUID PROPELLANT ENGINES AND TWO SOLID MOTOR BOOSTERS. THESE BOOSTERS PRODUCE LARGE AMOUNTS OF HYDROGEN CHLORIDE CREATING A POTENTIAL HAZARD TO PERSONNEL AND PROPERTY. THEREFORE, A DEVICE IS NEEDED TO PROVIDE HC1 LOCATION AND CONCENTRATION DATA FOR USE IN TOXIC HAZARD PREDICTIONS AND TO PROTECT THE GOVERNMENT AGAINST LEGAL ACTIONS. WE PROPOSE TO USE A NEW TECHNIQUE DEVELOPED BY OPTIMETRICS, INC. TERMED GAS FILTER CORRELATION IMAGERY (GFCI) TO SOLVE THE INSTRUMENTA-TION PROBLEM. THE GFCI TECHNIQUE IS THE COMBINATION OF TWO EXISTING WIDELY APPLIED REMOTE SENSING INFRARED TECHNIQUES. THE TECHNIQUES ARE GAS FILTER CORRELATION SPECTROSCOPY (GFCS) AND INFRARED IMAGING. THE GFCS TECHNIQUE (4, 5, 6, 7) HAS BEEN DEVELOPED OVER THE PAST 15 YEARS AND HAS BEEN PRATICULARLY USEFUL IN THE MEASUREMENT OF ATMO SPHRIC POLLUTANTS. THE ESSENCE OF GFCS IS TO COMPARE THE TARGET RADIATION PASSING THROUGH A GAS FILTER CONTAINING THE GAS TO BE DETECTED WITH THE SAME RADIATION PASSING THROUGH A NEUTRAL FILTER. THE DIFFERENCE SIGNAL IS A MEASURE OF THE GAS CONCENTRATION IN THE OPTICAL PATH BEING EXAMINED. THE INFRARED IMAGER [8] HAS BEEN DEVELOPED TO SPATIALY EXAMINE TARGETS AND SCENES IN THE INFRARED. THE COMBINATION OF THESE TWO TECHNIQUES WILL PROVIDE A SPATIAL EXAMINATION OF AN HC1 PLUME WHICH HAS BEEN SPECTRALLY SEPARATED FROM THE REMAINING INFRARED BACKGROUND.