When the Japanese Kounotori-2 (White Crane) Space Station resupply vehicle was commanded to its destructive reentry on 29 March 2011, an ingenious 'black box' flight recorder was carried on behalf of NASA and the US Defense Department's Space Test Program (STP), writes Joel Powell. The Reentry Breakup Recorder (REBR), protected by a tiny aeroshell and heatshield, gathered details of the structural breakup of the massive 8 tonne cargo ship. The communication system was based on cell phone technology, and the capsule literally made a phone call to an Iridium satellite to transmit the data to investigators at the Aerospace Corporation in Los Angeles.
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