Structural health monitoring for future space vehicles

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is certainly one of the key technologies required to achieve the goal for new space vehicles of having reduced maintenance costs with increased levels of safety. For the time being, sensor technology has reached a good technology readiness level, but the integration of these technologies into the design process of a space vehicle has not received much consideration. The present article aims at giving a reference about the existing technologies on the matter and an introduction to some of the key issues for the integration of a SHM system into the design process of future space vehicles. In addition, the accident that occurred to the space shuttle Columbia is analyzed in order to show how SHM could be effective for the improvement of safety in future space vehicles. Furthermore, since important changes to aeronautical design procedures have been introduced as a consequence of catastrophic events, the evolution of aeronautical design practices in parallel with accidents has been examined.