Breakup Recorder Hits Ground Running

A Reentry Breakup Recorder (REBR) carried aboard the Japanese HTV2 vehicle during its fiery plunge into the South Pacific Ocean successfully collected data during the breakup of the HTV2 vehicle and “phoned home” that data as it fell into the ocean Tuesday evening.

The REBR, an instrument designed and constructed by engineers at The Aerospace Corporation, survived impact and continued to transmit data from the ocean. Analysis of the data will take six to eight weeks.

The REBR is a small autonomous device that is designed to record temperature, acceleration, rotation rate, and other data as a spacecraft reenters Earth’s atmosphere.

The Aerospace Corporation designed REBR to collect data during atmospheric reentries of space hardware in order to help understand breakup and increase the safety of such reentries. The REBR project was supported by the U.S. Air Force, NASA, and the Boeing Company. The first flight test of the small, autonomous device was coordinated by the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program.

A second REBR will reenter the atmosphere aboard the European ATV2 vehicle in early June.