These fiber-optic sensors have now become commonplace on NASA projects such as the LOFTID experiment, which marked the first use of a space-rated fiber optic sensor system. The applications have been diverse covering both launcher and satellite applications and encompassing. Allen Parker, Fiber Optic Sensing System (FOSS) senior research engineer at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, explains how FOSS in aeronautics is used on a wing to determine its shape and stress on its structure. In addition, Jonathan Lopez explains how a new FOSS unit variant. While screaming toward Earth's surface at 17,000 mph, the inflatable heat shield on NASA's Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) experiment needed to record as much data as possible. Rather than having individual sensors all along its surface, optical fibers were woven. This is the power of fiber optic sensing, a technology that transforms ordinary optical fibers into the digital world's sensory network. In 2023, researchers turned submarine cables into earthquake warning systems and gave electric vehicles “optical nerves” to prevent battery failures.
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