Middeck Active Control Experiment (MACE)

MACE was successfully completed on the STS-67 in March of 1995. Preparations for flight included finalizing the 0-g finite element model, designing on-orbit identification experiments, and design of pre-programmed controllers using the 0-g finite element model. These activities were carried out for 2 configurations of the MACE test article. The experiment collected invaluable data ,three types of protocols were implemented during the flight, identification, control, and input shaping. Flight operations went much better than expected, with 14 days of on-orbit test time instead of 6. Post-flight analysis of the several gigabytes of sensor/actuator data, as well as the more than 50 hours of video, is currently taking place and will continue to occur for a long time to come.