"It kind of got lost in the noise," said
Saunders, who directs Langley's space access and exploration program office.
"It was only when we re-energized our offer that we got to help."
NASA officials asked Woodell to join
researchers from other field centers who are part of the Inter-center Photo
Working Group, which analyzes video and photos from shuttle missions.
On March 11, researchers at Langley got
their first look at the original images from Columbia's final launch. The
group included Langley's Dan Jobson and Zia-ur Rahman, a research scientist
with Science and Technology Corp.
They put Retinex to work. The computer
software increases the contrast, lightness and sharpness of an image, much
like the controls on a computer monitor or television set. But Retinex hones
in on each tiny piece, or pixel, of the image - enhancing it and the pixels
around it.
Edwin Land, the founder of the Polaroid
instant-process photo, coined the term Retinex back in the 1950s. Retinex,
which combines the words "retina" and "cortex," describes Land's effort to
apply elements of human vision to photo developing.
Langley researchers added to the
technology in the mid-1990s and earned a patent. NASA's original interest
was to enhance satellite photos of the Earth, but Langley researchers
quickly found the technology could help everyone from pilots to amateur
photographers.
Science and Technology Corp. spun off a
small company called TruView Imaging to commercialize the technology into a
product called PhotoFlair, which sells for about $70.
Users of computer programs like
Photoshop can manually do what Retinex does automatically, but it's a
labor-intensive process, Woodell said.
Retinex can help people see images
better than the human eye. For example, it can see through fog, haze, snow
and rain. Langley researchers are working on technology that will allow
airline pilots to use Retinex to see better in bad weather. They've already
helped police enhance video taken of bank robbers in Norfolk.
Woodell said he hasn't heard whether it
helped catch the suspects.
Saunders and his researchers won't say
exactly what, if anything, they discovered by enhancing hundreds of Columbia
launch images.
"I've seen them," Saunders said, "and
it's a pretty dramatic improvement." The new images should help
investigators determine the size and speed of the debris that struck the
wing, he added.
Debris that could have been obscured by
bright or dark areas in the original photos would be visible in the enhanced
versions. But Saunders would not confirm whether his researchers uncovered
once-hidden signs of debris.
The Columbia Accident Investigation
Board has not released the improved photos to the public.
Several groups within NASA are working
on the images, although this is a first for Langley. Saunders said NASA
officials were impressed after Woodell gave a presentation at Johnson Space
Center late last month.
"They didn't know us in the beginning,"
Saunders said. "We're viewed as valuable members of the group now."
Dave Schleck can be reached at 247-7430
or by e-mail at dschleck@dailypress.com
Copyright © 2003, Daily Press
