Boeing adjusts Starliner launch schedule after fuel leak during test
Capitalism in space: Yesterday Boeing pushed back its Starliner launch schedule as a result of the fuel leak problem that had occurred during an engine test of the capsule last week.
They now plan the first unmanned test flight around the end of this year, with the first manned flight in the middle of 2019.
As for the fuel leak,
several abort engine valves failed to close properly, causing a leak of toxic fuels. The test article was not damaged and no one was hurt, but the incident required an investigation with support from NASA.
Other reports say that 4 of 8 valves failed to close. There is no explanation about why this happened, but I find it a very strange technical failure. Building valves for spacecraft is not cutting edge design, or I wouldn’t think so.
Tomorrow NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine is going to make an announcement with some official launch dates for both Boeing and SpaceX. We shall see if SpaceX’s schedule gets pushed back as well.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Capitalism in space: Yesterday Boeing pushed back its Starliner launch schedule as a result of the fuel leak problem that had occurred during an engine test of the capsule last week.
They now plan the first unmanned test flight around the end of this year, with the first manned flight in the middle of 2019.
As for the fuel leak,
several abort engine valves failed to close properly, causing a leak of toxic fuels. The test article was not damaged and no one was hurt, but the incident required an investigation with support from NASA.
Other reports say that 4 of 8 valves failed to close. There is no explanation about why this happened, but I find it a very strange technical failure. Building valves for spacecraft is not cutting edge design, or I wouldn’t think so.
Tomorrow NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine is going to make an announcement with some official launch dates for both Boeing and SpaceX. We shall see if SpaceX’s schedule gets pushed back as well.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Starliner has four RS-88 derived (originally a LOX / ethanol engine) abort engines, so the eight valves mentioned are presumably four for hydrazine and four for nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer, and it appears that all four hydrazine valves failed to close.
A commenter on yesterday’s Ars Technica article said Boeing claims that “valve failure was caused by the four-engine configuration of the service module and would not have manifested in single-engine tests” and went on to speculate that “My educated guess is that something about the way the four engines are connected to fuel tanks exposed the fuel valves on all four engines to flow/pressure conditions which were outside of the parameters under which the engine was previously tested, so they all failed in the same way”. (The commenter sounded informed, but did not cite a reference for their Boeing claim.)
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program just posted new target dates:
Targeted Test Flight Dates:
Boeing Orbital Flight Test (uncrewed): late 2018 / early 2019
Boeing Crew Flight Test (crewed): mid-2019
SpaceX Demo-1 (uncrewed): November 2018
SpaceX Demo-2 (crewed): April 2019
Robert wrote: “I find it a very strange technical failure. Building valves for spacecraft is not cutting edge design, or I wouldn’t think so.”
In my experience, the darnedest things fail. Technologies that are well established and assemblies that are checked out fail at the most inconvenient times. Sometimes it is because they were used in ways not intended, as Kirk mentioned, as happened with valves on the Mars Observer satellite, and as with a Russian Fregat upper stage.
http://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/independent-arianespace-investigation-cites-design-error-as-cause-of-russian-launch-failure/
Sometimes it is because assemblies were not built quite right, which is uncommon per assembly, but the failure of any one of thousands of assemblies can be disastrous. We have seen this recently when Russian rockets were built with parts made from materials that were not as strong as the drawing called for.
A couple of decades ago, I bought a brand new car, but the tubing for the cockpit heating was not properly connected, and my first drive in it turned into a colder-than-expected experience. One difference between a problem on Earth and one in space is that in space the crew might freeze to death. Another difference is that we can still fix the one on Earth. We necessarily require and demand far higher quality in our spacecraft than in our earthbound craft.
It seems that in this case Boeing tested their system with a single engine and that this was their first test of the four-engine system, expecting the one-engine success to carry over. Quite often, individual parts are de-rated (e.g. a 1/2 amp resistor is used where up to 1/4 amp could be expected) in order to assure the part is not over stressed. It seems that the Boeing designers did not account for a need for additional valve performance when used in the multiple engine system.
Generally, we don’t hear much about the troubles that most development programs run into, because these (e.g. cars, computer chips, etc.) are done by private companies that try to keep their plans and progress away from the competitors’ eyes. Blue Origin once worked in secret, but their test flights had to have some amount of public exposure, such as when they asked for FAA approval to fly them. Eventually they embraced the publicity, webcasting live test launches.
Kirk’s Ars Technica link has a good quote or tagline: “These development programs are hard. Especially for human spacecraft.“
“Everything was made by the lowest bidder” Alan Shepherd as to whether he was worried before he was launched.
What surprised me was Boeing rescheduling the pad abort test to next spring. I would have expected them to engineer a solution and have it back on the test pad in just a couple of months, particularly since Boeing says their investigators “found the root cause.” and that “A fix is being put into place.” Hopefully their next test is more successful, but putting it off until spring risks program delays if the test reveals a new problem.
Kirk,
It may not be a quick fix.
If they need to purchase different, more appropriate, valves then there could be a lead-time while those valves are made. Although I have no insight in Boeing’s thinking, they may want to test the multi-engine system separately before performing another full-assembly pad abort test.
Its rare to find a valve that gets stuck open during high pressure use.
Stuck closed yes, open, not so often.
You would think they would chose a design that was not subject to a high pressure closing problem.