Boeing Starliner

[MartG]

b0rk said:

LivLL said:

Last I read, 27 of the 28 RCS thrusters were fully operational and the helium levels were stable.

Have NASA or Boeing released why they had some many thruster issues on approach yet? If the thrusters are functioning now then surely that suggests either a software problem or something related to the control linkages/cabling when operational. Which isn’t a good place to be and would make perfect sense why an uncrewed return has been decided on. If they can’t trust the state in anything other than static conditions it’s quiet honestly not ready for crewed flight.

I think they are blaming overheating teflon seals within the thrusters.

Of course, there is nothing to stop them from overheating again when used in anger...

Edited by MartG on Friday 6th September 20:53

[dukeboy749r]

A ‘successful’ return.

No doubt some (very deep) sighs of relief at Boeing and a ‘thank goodness’ at NASA HQ.

I wonder how long before a second, possibly uncrewed, mission takes place?

[FMOB]

MartG said:

b0rk said:

LivLL said:

Last I read, 27 of the 28 RCS thrusters were fully operational and the helium levels were stable.

Have NASA or Boeing released why they had some many thruster issues on approach yet? If the thrusters are functioning now then surely that suggests either a software problem or something related to the control linkages/cabling when operational. Which isn’t a good place to be and would make perfect sense why an uncrewed return has been decided on. If they can’t trust the state in anything other than static conditions it’s quiet honestly not ready for crewed flight.

I think they are blaming overheating teflon seals within the thrusters.

Of course, there is nothing to stop them from overheating again when used in anger...

Edited by MartG on Friday 6th September 20:53

Overheating seals in a thruster, is the fact that thrusters gets really hot a surprise to Boeing?

Sounds like they are having problems with basic material selection and lack of rigorous testing, I wonder if the known problems are the tip of the problems.

[MartG]

dukeboy749r said:

I wonder how long before a second, possibly uncrewed, mission takes place?

Send it up unmanned to bring their astronauts back

[vaud]

Would make the great start to a scfi/horror film if they had opened the capsule and found the astronauts inside, while also a pair being in the space station.

[bobthemonkey]

FMOB said:

Overheating seals in a thruster, is the fact that thrusters gets really hot a surprise to Boeing?

Sounds like they are having problems with basic material selection and lack of rigorous testing, I wonder if the known problems are the tip of the problems.

There was also a suggestion than the manual flying was generating more thruster inputs than the automatic mode used on the unscrewed test flight. There also seems to have been much more heat soak between thrusters in the same doughouse assembly.

[b0rk]

bobthemonkey said:

There was also a suggestion than the manual flying was generating more thruster inputs than the automatic mode used on the unscrewed test flight. There also seems to have been much more heat soak between thrusters in the same doughouse assembly.

Should it really be a surprise to Boeing that manual human flight is less precise on the controls than the automation can be. If this is really a problem then someone has developed a far too unconservative design.

[FMOB]

b0rk said:

bobthemonkey said:

There was also a suggestion than the manual flying was generating more thruster inputs than the automatic mode used on the unscrewed test flight. There also seems to have been much more heat soak between thrusters in the same doughouse assembly.

Should it really be a surprise to Boeing that manual human flight is less precise on the controls than the automation can be. If this is really a problem then someone has developed a far too unconservative design.

This is what happens when the accountants are in charge, they know the cost of everything but the value of nothing.

Unscrewed test flight is about right

[Ian974]

b0rk said:

Should it really be a surprise to Boeing that manual human flight is less precise on the controls than the automation can be.

The current state of boeing being what it is, I think anything at all to do with flight control systems surprises them.

[bobthemonkey]

Ian974 said:

The current state of boeing being what it is, I think anything at all to do with flight control systems surprises them.

The entire propulsion element was subbed out to Aerojet

[Sway]

bobthemonkey said:

Ian974 said:

The current state of boeing being what it is, I think anything at all to do with flight control systems surprises them.

The entire propulsion element was subbed out to Aerojet

Yep, I get the desire to (rightly) stick the boot further into Boeing, but this is entirely on Aerojet Rocketdyne.

Which, for entirely unrelated reasons, I have great pleasure in observing them fk up royally (as long as no one gets hurt, obvs). Weirdly, their new parent company's shares have been rising over the period this has been going on.

[Beati Dogu]

The return wasn’t all roses. The service module saw higher than usual thruster temperatures again, despite taking measures to spare their usage. They didn’t fail though at least.

After they jettisoned the service module (which burns up in the atmosphere), one of the 12 thrusters on the crew module itself refused to fire. It’s a simple monopropellant system, but they got no readings from its sensors either. They were able to switch to a backup thruster to compensate though.

They also had problems with the navigation system when they came out of the reentry plasma. They were able to get that going and complete the landing ok. There were also a couple of issues with it before entry too, according to NASA commercial crew manager Steve Stich in the post landing press conference.

[MartG]

It will be interesting to see if NASA insist on another manned test flight with no issues before clearing it for service

[Arrivalist]

MartG said:

It will be interesting to see if NASA insist on another manned test flight with no issues before clearing it for service

Surely they have to bearing in mind the landing also had issues?

[LivLL]

Arrivalist said:

MartG said:

It will be interesting to see if NASA insist on another manned test flight with no issues before clearing it for service

Surely they have to bearing in mind the landing also had issues?

Of course they will, every aspect of this test mission will be looked at. That's the whole point of test flights.

[FMOB]

Just keeps getting worse for Boeing, looks like a satellite they built has just fallen apart in space..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8d886l028o

[Eric Mc]

How recently was that satellite launched?

[LivLL]

FMOB said:

Just keeps getting worse for Boeing, looks like a satellite they built has just fallen apart in space..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8d886l028o

Was is hit? It's been up there eight years already.

[FMOB]

LivLL said:

FMOB said:

Just keeps getting worse for Boeing, looks like a satellite they built has just fallen apart in space..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8d886l028o

Was is hit? It's been up there eight years already.

Whether it was hit by something is not clear, if it was then Boeing can't be blamed though any Boeing related failures do get the pile-on from everyone these days.

[Itsallicanafford]

FMOB said:

LivLL said:

FMOB said:

Just keeps getting worse for Boeing, looks like a satellite they built has just fallen apart in space..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8d886l028o

Was is hit? It's been up there eight years already.

Whether it was hit by something is not clear, if it was then Boeing can't be blamed though any Boeing related failures do get the pile-on from everyone these days.

Mmh,

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq55ww5j7e2o.amp

A satellite built by a key US company is lost, a few weeks before a US election…

Edited by Itsallicanafford on Wednesday 23 October 12:35