It was another day that got away from me today. On top of that, there's very little of what I consider meaningful news today.
To clear the desk a little, I missed a couple of pretty big things in last night's post about Starliner being scrubbed and delayed. I'll list them here in no particular order:
- When I said the mission, "...has been rescheduled for this Friday at 6:16 PM EDT" that was a terrible misreading of the information. It's not this Friday, May 10; it's next Friday, May 17. The time, at least, is the right set of numbers but that doesn't mean anything if you're looking for it on the wrong day.
From NextSpaceflight.com's list of all coming launches.
- Next was talking about relays and not valves (as what was buzzing). While I'd swear someplace I was reading said it was a relay, I don't remember where that was. I have to assume it's my fault and I always take responsibility for my screw-ups.
- Finally, I used the headlines that blamed the scrub on the Atlas V, but the issue was in the Centaur upper stage.
The issue was with an oxygen relief valve on the rocket’s Centaur upper stage. “The team is just not comfortable with the signatures that they’re seeing, the response out of that valve, so out of an abundance of caution, we are not going to continue with our launch operations today,” said Dillon Rice, ULA launch commentator, on NASA TV.
Which actually is worse than if was the Atlas V. As commenter Beans pointed out, " First launched (for Atlas V) in 2001 and they're having this issue?" It's part of the launch vehicle for sure, but the Centaur upper stage has been flying since the 1960s, not 2001. Yeah, it's likely they've modified the design in the 70 years the design has been around, but hardware isn't changed without reason in a certified system like that.
That makes it even worse, being an issue with the Centaur. But, as you point out, they have been making continuing improvements on Centaur. Still doesn't make it any better that the premier US upper stage (not counting Falcon 2nd Stage) and the one constantly touted as the best engineered stage has a problem with said valve.
ReplyDeleteThat's right up there with your $450,000 car being stalled by a tire pressure gauge valve, or the interface between valve and master control computer and just needs resetting. (I have had this problem with the tire pressure sensor needing to be reset for it to read.)
SiG, I'd be amazed if the valves haven't undergone SOME change, either assembly or materials or slight design changes. Just because. Things aren't made the same way nor with the exact same materials as they were in the 60's. So there's a good possibility the changes (even "slight" ones) can trigger bad results or behavior.
ReplyDeleteWe had a $1.50 part keep a missile site down for a week! Can't go into details of course, but it was interesting to see the smallest, most insignificant part stop the whole shebang!
Unfortunately, it IS Rocket Science!
BTW, the $1.50 was 1970's prices. Today, it would probably be 500 bucks and be platinum-plated. Again, just because.
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