Posted on 03/07/2022 9:54:04 PM PST by BenLurkin
Investigators have determined that two things went wrong during the Feb. 10 flight, Andrew Griggs, senior director of mission management and assurance at Astra, wrote in a blog post on Sunday (March 6).
First, LV0008's payload fairing — the protective "nose cone" that surrounds satellites during launch — didn't deploy properly.
"The separation mechanisms (our fairing has five of these) were fired in an incorrect order, which resulted in off-nominal movement of the fairing that caused an electrical disconnection," Griggs wrote. "Due to the disconnection, the last separation mechanism never received its command to open, which prevented the fairing from separating completely before upper-stage ignition."
The firing order was wrong because an engineering diagram had been drawn incorrectly, Griggs added.
The second problem was a software issue that prevented LV0008's upper stage engine from using its thrust vector control system, which allows the engine to alter how its thrust is directed. That led to the tumbling and, ultimately, to the end of the mission, Griggs wrote.
Astra has pinpointed the root cause of the software issue, he added. And the investigation has also revealed that Astra's flight control software was vulnerable to a specific type of "packet loss" failure — the failure of certain types of data to reach their destination.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Off-normal situation.
And I think my spaceship didn’t know which way to go...
The people who wrote the software may lose their job....
No. They’ll get promoted into management. It’s the American way........
Fail up. In 35 years at [major defense contractor], two as an Air Force contractor, and two at [a major Federal research laboratory] I saw it again and again.
Joe Biden is livin' the 'Merican dream.
Just one of the things that can happen when you think 'acting White' and math is racist.
Yep. I was a DoD contractor for three years at the Pentagon and saw that quite a bit. I specifically remember one guy - Air Force - who retired as a light colonel. Held his retirement ceremony, he went home, and showed back up two months later as a contractor, himself. Even kept his same office and desk, we just secured it while he was out. His hair was shaggy, and he’d looked like he’d spent most of his remaining leave drinking beer and eating pizza. I was shocked how much of a blubber gut he’d put on in 60 days.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.