Posted on 05/04/2018 1:46:23 PM PDT by Red Badger
The James Webb Space Telescope hits another snag.
On anything that moves, from vehicles to rolling office chairs, you need to be wary of bolts rattling loose over time. Thread-locking fluids and tapes are a great way to make sure your suspect bolts stay where they should, and nyloc nuts can also keep components snug and secure.
Northrop Grumman might need to look into something along these lines, because apparently "screws and washers" are falling off the spacecraft and sunshield it is building to carry NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Space News reports that NASA's JWST program director, Greg Robinson, said that hardware was found underneath the spacecraft element of JWST (everything but the mirror and instruments) after it was moved from an acoustic testing chamber to a vibration testing chamber.
“Right now we believe that all of this hardware—we’re talking screws and washers here—come from the sunshield cover,” Robinson said today at the National Academies’ Space Studies Board in Washington D.C., according to Space News. “We’re looking at what this really means and what is the recovery plan.”
It's probably a good thing the falling screws and washers were discovered before the spacecraft went into the vibration testing chamber. “It’s not terrible news, but it’s not good news, either,” Robinson continued. The JWST program director reiterated that issues like this are why NASA and its partners do extensive testing on new spacecraft before launch.
The issue was only just discovered, and NASA and Northrop Grumman are determining the best way to move forward. NASA recently announced that tears in the sunshield and leaks in the thruster valves of JWST's spacecraft element were likely to delay the $8-plus-billion space telescope's launch to May 2020 from spring 2019 (already delayed from 2018).
In response to the troubling findings, NASA has initiated an independent review of JWST launch readiness led by former NASA Goddard director Tom Young, which is expected to be completed by the end of the month. Additionally, the national space agency has sent more personnel to Northrop Grumman's facility in Redondo Beach, California—where the JWST optical telescope element is being mated to the spacecraft element—to oversee the work.
"I still believe we’ll go in 2020," Robinson said at the Space Studies Board, though he admitted the loose screws and washers could reveal a problem that "takes longer than we expect.”
Space scientists from astrobiologists to atmospheric scientists to cosmologists are chomping at the bit to switch on James Webb and turn the biggest space telescope ever built out to the firmament. Maybe someone can send Northrop a little Loctite.
Source: Space News
Maybe Webb Hubbell went where “no man has gone before”. Or since.
Yep, but a specially formulated version is required for the temperature extremes and vacuum of space. Since that document indicates that NASA already knows this, we can assume they used the stuff. The conclusion might be that something else caused the problem.
The incident does call for an investigation. Negligent parties need to get their resumes ready.
I like the way safety wire looks when installed correctly.
Loctite or anti-seize on every bolt. Us antique motorcycle know all about this.
I monitored the demolition of a fairly new building in Seattle. 14 stories, about 8 years old. Somebody forgot to put a dab of epoxy on the end of the rebar. Water got in and corroded them. They spent years and millions trying to repair it, then ended up tearing the whole place down.
Did somebody get a good ass kicking?
What a great audio - funny. I have no idea on the worker(s) getting fired or whatever. And my client said “And not just the worker, but his boss, the company inspector, the city inspector - they all dropped the ball.”
I mentioned to one of the young construction workers on what a waste it all was.
“Whatja mean? It’s work for me - and then I’ll get to work building the new one - that’s not a waste.” I didn’t bother trying to explain myself.
Oh - the kicker. It was built and owned by the local Construction Union so as to provide income (apartments above and retail on the ground level) for their pension fund!
Related?
LGBTQ Advocates Try to Halt Mississippi ‘Religious Freedom’ Law The Mississippi law was supported by Baptist and Pentecostal groups, and the Washington-based Family Research Council gave Bryant an award for signing it. Opponents protested outside the Governor’s Mansion in Jackson and executives of several large companies, including Coca-Cola Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp., called the law as discriminatory and said legislators should repeal it. - https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/lgbtq-advocates-try-halt-mississippi-religious-freedom-law-n697076
On Saturday, September 6, 2003 during an operation at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company (LMSSC) Sunnyvale that required repositioning the Television Infrared Observational Satellites (TIROS) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) N-Prime satellite from a vertical to a horizontal position, the satellite slipped from the Turn-Over Cart (TOC) and fell to the floor (see Figure 3-1). The satellite sustained heavy damage (see Figure 3-2), although no injuries to personnel occurred. The exact extent of the hardware damage is still being assessed.
The operation scheduled for that day was to shim the Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) instrument by removing and replacing the instrument. This operation required the spacecraft to be rotated and tilted to the horizontal position using the TOC. The spacecraft fell to the floor as it reached 13 degrees of tilt while being rotated. The reason was clear from inspection of the hardware: the satellite fell because the TOC adapter plate was not secured to the TOC with the required 24 bolts (see Figure 3-3).
Turns out somebody needed some bolts, took them off the satellite that was just sitting there and forgot to tell anybody. Cost to fix the damage was in the neighborhood of $135 million.
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