PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
Contact: Jim Doyle
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 16, 1996
NASA TECHNOLOGY HELPS NAVY FIND UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE
NASA scientists have turned over to the U.S. Navy the first
phase of a data analysis program designed to find unexploded
ordnance and mines in bays and harbors that were once used as
gunnery ranges and test areas.
Space technology and computer applications are being adapted
by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to help identify underwater
mines and ordnance in data from existing Navy sonar, laser and
magnetic instruments. JPL is also providing a chemical detector
that will sniff out small traces of explosives in the water.
The purpose of the program, called Mobile Underwater Debris
Survey System (MUDSS), is to demonstrate various technologies
that can be used to survey former defense sites for unexploded
waste, said Dr. Robert Somoano, MUDSS program manager at JPL.
Some of the explosive debris in various bays and harbors has
been in place since long before World War II, Somoano said. "The
Navy is getting into it because the country is concerned about
cleaning up those underwater sites. The government is closing
bases in several areas and they have to be cleared of all
unexploded ordnance before they can be turned over to civilian
authorities."
Now halfway through the three-year effort, MUDSS is being
conducted by JPL under contract to the Department of Defense,
with funding provided by the department's Strategic Environmental
Research and Development Program. The work is being done in
partnership with the Naval Coastal System Station, Naval Surface
Warfare Center in Florida.
Once the Navy finds the debris, the problem is turned over
to the U.S. Army, which has the responsibility for disposing of
all unexploded military waste. The Army has its own program
underway to clean up land bases.
The first year's feasibility demonstration site for MUDSS
technologies has been at St. Andrews Bay, Panama City, FL,
location of the Navy's Coastal Systems Station's test site. Most
of the hardware tested in the demonstration was developed at the
Naval Surface Warfare Center.
A separate JPL-developed instrument towed beneath the
surface and behind the boat on a second cable is a chemical
sensor that samples the water to detect the presence of
explosives.
The five instruments are towed beneath the surface of the
water on cables strung from a catamaran. The researchers made
about 150 runs over the targets with various combinations of
sensors functioning. There were 30 runs with all the sensors
being used at once.
Somoano said potential users of these systems include the
Army Environmental Center, the Army Corps of Engineers and the
Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division. There also
are potential commercial users, he said, including underwater
survey and cleanup, de-mining, archeology site survey and law
enforcement search operations.
MUDSS data and visualization programs will be showcased at
the annual conference on Computing Machinery's Special Interest
Group on Graphics (SIGGRAPH) in New Orleans, LA, on August 4-9.
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