Boeing completes full series of static hot fire engine burns on Starliner while docked to ISS
Boeing announced today that engineers have successfully completed a full series of static hot fire engine burns testing all of Starliner’s attitude thrusters while still dockecd to ISS.
The one-pulse firings were designed to confirm the performance of each thruster. Aft-facing thrusters were fired for 1.2 seconds and all others for .40 seconds. Between each firing, the team reviewed real-time data and all thrusters performed at peak thrust rating values, ranging from 97-102%. The helium system also remained stable. Additionally, an RCS oxidizer isolation valve that was not fully seated previously, was cycled several times during today’s testing and is now operating normally.
This is the second time the spacecraft has been hot fired successfully while docked, an integrated operation the station and Starliner teams will also conduct during future long-duration missions.
This result is not a surprise, based on the information provided during the most recent briefing. It confirms the data obtained during previous hot fire tests both on a Starliner on the ground and the Starliner docked to ISS. Not only does it appear that Boeing has enough information to fix this problem so it does not occur again, it has proven unequivocally that these thrusters as well as the helium leaks inside the thruster systems pose no unusual risk for a return in the capsule.
NASA and Boeing have a planned review of these results this coming week, when we should expect them to name a return date, likely sometime in the first two weeks of August.
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Boeing announced today that engineers have successfully completed a full series of static hot fire engine burns testing all of Starliner’s attitude thrusters while still dockecd to ISS.
The one-pulse firings were designed to confirm the performance of each thruster. Aft-facing thrusters were fired for 1.2 seconds and all others for .40 seconds. Between each firing, the team reviewed real-time data and all thrusters performed at peak thrust rating values, ranging from 97-102%. The helium system also remained stable. Additionally, an RCS oxidizer isolation valve that was not fully seated previously, was cycled several times during today’s testing and is now operating normally.
This is the second time the spacecraft has been hot fired successfully while docked, an integrated operation the station and Starliner teams will also conduct during future long-duration missions.
This result is not a surprise, based on the information provided during the most recent briefing. It confirms the data obtained during previous hot fire tests both on a Starliner on the ground and the Starliner docked to ISS. Not only does it appear that Boeing has enough information to fix this problem so it does not occur again, it has proven unequivocally that these thrusters as well as the helium leaks inside the thruster systems pose no unusual risk for a return in the capsule.
NASA and Boeing have a planned review of these results this coming week, when we should expect them to name a return date, likely sometime in the first two weeks of August.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in the past two weeks has the mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the 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. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Does it feel to anyone else here that it is as if someone is trying to write a close to the era of human spaceflight?
I am not talking Old Space vs NewSpace..but a growing undercurrent.
Kids like rockets more than trucks–so big truck hate came first
Good on them for investigating the thrusters and fully understanding the problem. Their hazard analysis and risk assessment are validated and undoubtedly NASA will deem it safe to bring two people home.
But before it wasn’t. Before there was enough doubt and pull at NASA to slow their roll and hold on while the tests were conducted. They would have stuck to the original timetable if it was safe to do so.
The thrusters weren’t perfect last flight. The time for Boeing to do all this was before astronauts were involved. Before.
I wonder who picked up the tab for all this testing.
John wrote: “They would have stuck to the original timetable if it was safe to do so.”
Not necessarily. The first Dragon manned test flight stayed longer than the original stated plan. There was an option for an extended stay, and the option was exercised. Starliner had the same option, and it was exercised. The differences were: 1) the extended stay option was not announced as prominently, and 2) the stated reason for the extension was to test the thrusters. The propaganda media used the extension as an excuse to create a drama that did not exist.
“The thrusters weren’t perfect last flight. The time for Boeing to do all this was before astronauts were involved. Before.”
I suspect that both Boeing and NASA had believed that they understood the thrusters by the end of the previous flight. I’ve been involved in tests that took us a few times to get it to work. Sometimes the engineers don’t realize just how little they understand their design. There is a bias that they know how it will work, that is why they design it that way, but the reality can be quite different.
“Reality betrays us all.” — Benjamin Hoffman, from the movie Hoffman.
“I wonder who picked up the tab for all this testing.”
It is a fixed-price contract, so the cost belongs to Boeing. They may not have to pay NASA salaries, and Boeing is paying its own employees anyway, but facility use, other test expenses, and any consultants they may have hired would be on Boeing. Most likely this was not a terribly expensive problem, and I don’t expect it to become a write-off on the company’s annual report.
I’m looking forward to Starliner being completely certified as operational. With luck, NASA will not be the only one flying on Starliner.
I wrote: “Most likely this was not a terribly expensive problem, and I don’t expect it to become a write-off on the company’s annual report.”
From the July 31 Quicklinks ( https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/july-31-2024-quick-space-links/ ), on of the Boeing links:
https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0000012927/000001292724000055/ba-20240630.htm
Page 19:
I’m not sure what part of that $125 million belongs to the propulsion system anomalies and what is part of the ongoing losses over the second quarter. They are anticipating possible future losses, too. Since they are reporting the anomaly testing as a loss, their will undoubtedly be losses for July and whatever part of August they remain in orbit. I do not think the entire $125 million is due to the anomaly, because that would suggest that: 1) the July losses due to the anomaly would be similar in magnitude, and 2) the anomaly is costing them $5 million per day.
However, if these are more general costs associated with the overall delay in launching the test flight, the 65 days of the quarter before the launch would mean that Boeing has been losing around $2 million per day on this contract. The average daily loss over the second quarter is $1⅓ million per day. I think the question is: With this flight, have the delays and the associated write-offs ended, and they are now back on track to Starliner certification?