Posted on 09/07/2024 7:56:40 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
If you think Boeing's doing a lousy job with Starliner, just wait until you hear the latest about SLS!
Boeing is doing a worse job with SLS than it is with Starliner!!
The latest from NASA OIG! | 17:18
The Angry Astronaut | 145K subscribers | 37,566 views | August 10, 2024
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
Transcript 0:00 · good afternoon on today's angry bulletin 0:03 · we've just gotten finished talking about 0:06 · Starliner and all of the problems that 0:10 · this new vehicle is presenting to NASA 0:13 · and the fact that Boeing can't seem to 0:15 · do much of anything right anymore but no 0:18 · one's really been talking about the 0:20 · other major Boeing project that NASA is 0:23 · depending on tremendously especially 0:26 · when we're talking about our Return To 0:28 · The Moon well that is until now the NASA 0:32 · office of Inspector General once again 0:35 · made a deep dive examination of the SLS 0:39 · project and how Boeing was handling the 0:41 · whole thing and it turns out that at 0:44 · least when it comes to the latest 0:47 · version of SLS that is to say the block 0:50 · 1B which is going to be absolutely 0:53 · necessary to return astronauts to the 0:56 · moon this time to stay well Boeing is 1:00 · doing a horrendous job in spite of all 1:03 · the efforts that have been made to try 1:05 · to improve their management of the 1:07 · project and this could spell the end of 1:09 · Artemis before it even really gets 1:12 · started all this and more coming at on 1:15 · the angry astronaut right 1:22 · now good afternoon and welcome to 1:25 · another angry bulletin first of all I 1:27 · would like to thank the following 1:29 · incredi people Kurt Griffith and Edward 1:33 · McMurray Michael fireberg and Jeff wils 1:37 · who have recently contributed towards my 1:39 · efforts to get back across the Atlantic 1:41 · to cover the SpaceX NASA crew 9 mission 1:46 · for the first time I've been afforded a 1:49 · press pass from NASA I'd like to thank 1:51 · NASA very much for letting me behind the 1:54 · curtain for once and uh getting an 1:56 · opportunity to get a behind the scenes 1:59 · tour interviewing the astronauts and of 2:01 · course covering this historic launch in 2:04 · person of course I'm going to be 2:05 · bringing you all of those details here 2:08 · on the angry astronaut if you'd like to 2:10 · support this trip all the details in the 2:13 · description okay enough about that let's 2:16 · talk about NASA's office of Inspector 2:18 · General and their latest damning report 2:21 · of SLS by the way I'd also like to 2:24 · express my appreciation to the NASA 2:26 · office of Inspector General for being so 2:29 · transparent about these problems and 2:32 · being so Vigilant in tracking down these 2:35 · issues and trying to do something about 2:37 · it for a government agency they do a 2:40 · damn good job and I think we should all 2:42 · recognize that okay so let's talk about 2:46 · the problems that we're having with SLS 2:48 · or more specifically the SLS block 1B 2:53 · quote scheduled to launch in September 2:55 · of 2:57 · 2028 right Artemis 4 will be the first 3:00 · flight of NASA's more powerful heavy 3:02 · lift rocket the SLS block 1B the rocket 3:06 · is designed to increase the amount of 3:08 · cargo the SLS can deliver to the Moon a 3:11 · critical component of this upgrade is 3:14 · the Boeing's development of the sls's 3:17 · new upper stage the exploration upper 3:19 · stage or E once completed the eus will 3:23 · give the SLS a 40% upgrading capability 3:27 · to send the Orion multi-purpose cre 3:30 · vehicle capsule and large car goes to 3:32 · the moon from 27 metric tons under block 3:35 · 1 to 38 metric tons with block 1B that's 3:39 · a big Improvement it means that you can 3:41 · send the Orion and everything necessary 3:44 · for a lengthy trip to the moon plus an 3:46 · additional 11 tons of cargo for example 3:50 · a new module for the lunar Gateway space 3:53 · station incidentally if NASA had 3:56 · actually played their cards right on 3:58 · this whole thing you could have to fit 4:00 · the alpaca lunar lander inside the 4:03 · exploration upper stage in the same 4:06 · launch therefore requiring only a single 4:09 · refueling mission to the Moon to fuel up 4:12 · the alpaca for a complete Journey to the 4:14 · moon and back and since alpaca is 4:17 · reusable you wouldn't have had to launch 4:19 · it again you just have to send out one 4:21 · refueling tanker every time you want to 4:24 · send it to the moon which is a hell of a 4:26 · lot less complicated than either blue 4:28 · origin or space X solution nevertheless 4:31 · doesn't matter block 1B will still have 4:34 · at least some purpose assuming of course 4:37 · that it actually gets off the ground but 4:39 · here's the problem Boeing's e contract 4:42 · has grown from 4:44 · $962,000 to over 2 billion through 4:48 · 2025 contributing to the overall SLS 4:51 · block 1B cost increase and while NASA 4:54 · requires its Aerospace contractors to 4:57 · have quality assurance programs that 4:59 · comply with standards on Quality 5:02 · Management Systems we found that 5:04 · Boeing's quality management system does 5:07 · not adhere to these standards or NASA 5:09 · requirements NASA engages the dcma which 5:13 · stands for defense contract management 5:16 · agency to conduct surveillance of 5:18 · Boeing's core and upper stage 5:20 · manufacturing efforts and when 5:22 · deficiencies and quality are found the 5:24 · dcma issues corrective action requests 5:27 · to the contractor correct Ive action 5:30 · requests are labeled 1 through 4 with 5:32 · level one being the least serious 5:35 · deficiency from September of 20121 to 5:38 · September of 5:40 · 2023 the dcma issued Boeing 5:44 · 71 level one and level two corrective 5:47 · action requests as well as a draft level 5:50 · three corrective action request 5:52 · according to dcma officials this is a 5:55 · high number of corrective actions for a 5:58 · space flight system at this stage in 6:00 · development and reflects a recurring 6:02 · inte degrad state of product quality 6:05 · control Boeing's process to address 6:08 · deficiencies to date has been 6:09 · ineffective and the company has 6:11 · generally been nonresponsive in taking 6:14 · corrective actions when the same quality 6:16 · control issues reoccur does that sound 6:19 · familiar well it should let's go on 6:22 · quality control issues at Mishu which by 6:25 · the way is where a lot of the assembly 6:27 · work is done on the court stage of SLS 6:31 · and also on the exploration upper stage 6:33 · are largely due to the lack of a 6:35 · sufficient number of trained and 6:37 · experienced Aerospace workers at Boeing 6:40 · I'm surprised anybody still works at 6:43 · that company that has any desire to 6:45 · protect their reputation or their 6:47 · careers but let's go on to mitigate 6:50 · these challenges Boeing provides 6:52 · training and work orders to its 6:54 · employees considering the significant 6:56 · quality control deficiencies that Mishu 6:59 · we found these efforts to be inadequate 7:01 · for example during our visit to Mishu in 7:04 · April of 2023 we observed a liquid 7:07 · oxygen fuel tank Dome a critical 7:10 · component of the SLS cor stage three 7:13 · segregated and pending disposition on 7:15 · WEA and how it can be safely used going 7:19 · forward due to welds that did not meet 7:21 · NASA's specifications kind of late to 7:24 · notice these sorts of issues according 7:27 · to NASA officials the welding issues 7:29 · arose due to Boeing's inexperienced 7:32 · technicians and inadequate work order 7:34 · planning and supervision the lack of a 7:37 · trained and qualified Workforce 7:39 · increases the risk that Boeing will 7:42 · continue to manufacture parts and 7:44 · components that do not adhere to NASA's 7:46 · requirements and Industry standards we 7:49 · project SLS block 1B costs will reach 7:52 · approximately $5.7 billion before the 7:56 · system is scheduled to launch in 2028 7:59 · this is 700 million more than NASA's 8:02 · 2023 agency Baseline commitment which 8:06 · established a cost and schedule Baseline 8:08 · nearly $5 billion which is a huge amount 8:10 · of money to begin with but nevertheless 8:13 · exploration upper stage development 8:16 · accounts for more than half of that cost 8:18 · which we estimate will increase from an 8:20 · initial cost of 962 million in 2017 to 8:25 · nearly 8:27 · 2.8 billion through 20 28 Boeing's 8:31 · delivery of the exploration upper stage 8:33 · to NASA has also been delayed from 8:36 · February of 2021 to April of 8:39 · 2027 over 6 years and when combined with 8:43 · other factors suggests the September 8:46 · 2028 emis 4 launch date could be delayed 8:50 · as well I'd say that's almost certainly 8:53 · the case factors contributing to these 8:55 · cost increases and scheduled delays 8:58 · include redirection of e funds to the 9:01 · core stage during Artemis one production 9:04 · changing Artemis Mission assignments 9:06 · maintaining an extended Workforce 7 9:10 · years more than planned manufacturing 9:13 · issues and supply chain challenges NASA 9:16 · delayed establishing the block 1B agency 9:19 · Baseline commitment until December of 9:22 · 2023 after 10 years of development and 9:26 · much later in the Project Life Cycle 9:28 · than NASA's stand standard practice and 9:31 · to make matters worse according to the 9:32 · oig this situation is not going to 9:36 · improve without outside intervention 9:39 · primarily at least one of the major 9:41 · reasons is because the Boeing's defense 9:44 · earned value management system which 9:47 · Nasa uses to measure contract cost and 9:50 · scheduled progress and is required on 9:52 · all projects with a life cycle cost 9:54 · greater than $250 million has been 9:57 · disapproved by the Department of Defense 10:00 · since 10:01 · 2020 this precludes Boeing from reliably 10:05 · predicting an exploration upper stage 10:08 · delivery date or cost estimate in the 10:11 · long run so obviously Boeing is not up 10:14 · to handling this task and a lot of you 10:17 · are probably screaming at the TV right 10:19 · now and saying let's just go ahead and 10:21 · handle this whole thing over to SpaceX 10:23 · and Starship well let me briefly explain 10:26 · to you why NASA is unlikely to go that 10:29 · route right now we have no idea how long 10:33 · it's going to be before Starship is 10:35 · going to be safe enough to carry human 10:38 · beings up to orbit and then to bring 10:41 · them back down through the atmosphere to 10:43 · a safe landing it could be 10 years 10:46 · perhaps even longer or Starship May 10:49 · simply never be safe enough to carry 10:51 · human passengers from the surface of the 10:53 · Earth up to orbit and back and certainly 10:56 · not in the short run now a lot of you 10:59 · may be thinking well let's just go ahead 11:01 · and transfer crew over in orbit 11:05 · utilizing crew Dragon well there's a 11:07 · problem with that theory as well and I'm 11:09 · going to provide a brief explanation 11:13 · there is some question as to whether or 11:15 · not Starship is going to have enough 11:18 · fuel to travel all the way from low 11:20 · earth orbit to land safely on the moon 11:23 · and then get all the way back to low 11:25 · earth orbit and decelerate into a safe 11:28 · orbit in the process if you look at this 11:31 · Delta V map you will see that the amount 11:34 · of kilomet per second worth of Delta V 11:37 · required to reach the lunar surface is 11:40 · 6.4 11:41 · km/s approximately which means to get 11:44 · all the way back to low earth orbit 11:46 · would require another 6.4 km/s or a 11:50 · total of 12.8 this is actually 11:53 · substantially more Delta V than it is 11:55 · required to get star shift from Earth 11:58 · orbit to the surface of Mars and I 12:00 · seriously doubt whether or not Starship 12:02 · can actually carry enough fuel to do 12:05 · that the only way you can really cheat 12:07 · on this system is if you use Earth's 12:10 · atmosphere to decelerate meaning that 12:13 · you have to carry out a successful 12:15 · re-entry into Earth's atmosphere without 12:18 · having an opportunity to enter a safe 12:21 · orbit and then dock with a crew Dragon 12:24 · meaning that if we're going to use 12:26 · Starship to take astronauts all the way 12:29 · to the moon and back we are going to 12:31 · have no choice but to utilize an 12:34 · atmospheric re-entry regardless of how 12:36 · dangerous that might be and in my 12:39 · opinion it's going to be a while before 12:41 · NASA's really going to be comfortable 12:43 · with that solution now for those of you 12:45 · who think that I'm full of crap on all 12:47 · of this and are asking how was dear Moon 12:50 · supposed to do all of this if they 12:52 · weren't going to be able to dock with 12:53 · crew dragon in Earth orbit well dear 12:56 · moon was never going to set down on the 12:59 · surface of the Moon it was just going to 13:01 · carry out a free return orbit around the 13:04 · moon and that saves a ton of Delta V if 13:07 · you're actually going to land on the 13:09 · moon and then come back and not use the 13:12 · atmosphere to decelerate it requires a 13:15 · lot of Delta V and a lot of fuel as I 13:18 · say I'm not absolutely certain that 13:20 · Starship can't do it but it's going to 13:22 · be hard pressed the only solution that I 13:25 · can see maybe is to refuel Starship in 13:29 · in lunar orbit as well which adds a hell 13:32 · of a lot of complexity to a future 13:34 · Mission just getting SLS working 13:37 · properly is still the simplest solution 13:40 · the problem is is we've got Boeing 13:42 · running the show still so here's what 13:45 · the office of Inspector General 13:47 · recommends number one coordinate with 13:50 · Boeing the SLS stages prime contractor 13:52 · to develop a quality management system 13:55 · training program that is compliant with 13:57 · current NASA standards and reviewed by 14:00 · the appropriate NASA officials and two 14:03 · Institute Financial penalties for 14:05 · Boeing's non-compliance with quality 14:08 · control standards to minimize the impact 14:11 · on the Artemis campaign's timeline and 14:13 · Achieve sustainability we recommend that 14:16 · the associate administrator for the 14:18 · exploration systems development Mission 14:20 · directorate do the number three perform 14:23 · a detailed cost overrun analysis on 14:26 · Boeing stages contract for EU us 14:29 · development and to provide greater 14:31 · visibility into cost and schedule 14:33 · estimates for SLS upgrades the oig 14:36 · recommends that NASA coordinate with the 14:39 · dcma to ensure contractual compliance so 14:43 · unsurprisingly NASA did not respond well 14:46 · to recommendation number two because 14:49 · according to them Financial penalties 14:52 · fall outside the bounds of the contract 14:56 · what you mean NASA signed a contract 14:58 · with Boeing that has no Financial 15:01 · penalties whatsoever regardless of how 15:03 · bad of a job they do it's just 15:06 · ridiculous hard to believe this contract 15:09 · was ever signed and at this point I 15:12 · really think it just needs to be either 15:14 · cancelled or totally 15:16 · renegotiated and at the very least I I 15:19 · think the oig's recommendations are good 15:22 · but I don't think they go far enough I 15:24 · really think that this contract needs to 15:26 · be handed over to an independent company 15:29 · that is going to review the processes 15:32 · and to make sure Boeing is actually 15:34 · doing their job somebody who's familiar 15:37 · with the contract somebody who's 15:39 · familiar with how Boeing does things but 15:41 · somebody who's still independent and can 15:44 · do what's right for NASA and for the 15:47 · American people rather than for 15:49 · themselves that company in my opinion is 15:52 · dtic they are already building the 15:55 · universal stage adapter for the 15:57 · exploration upper stage anyway and given 16:00 · how important a component that is for 16:03 · the E they should understand most of the 16:07 · construction and Engineering going into 16:09 · that part of the rocket anyway seems to 16:12 · me that dynetics would understand a lot 16:15 · about how the SLS contract is built and 16:18 · what the engineering requirements for 16:20 · the for the rocket overall are and they 16:22 · could probably provide a great deal of 16:25 · effective oversight the responsibility 16:28 · needs to be given given to somebody 16:30 · because Boeing clearly can't handle it 16:32 · whether it's the 737 the Starliner or 16:36 · NASA's new moon rocket Boeing clearly 16:39 · can't handle any of these projects on 16:41 · their own if they can handle them at all 16:43 · and we need to take decisive action if 16:46 · there is to be any hope of us returning 16:48 · to the Moon before the end of this 16:51 · decade thank you very much for watching 16:53 · please don't forget to like And 16:55 · subscribe and as always stay angry about 16:58 · out space 17:01 · [Music]
Why not just give us a few lines of summary? That is what summaries are for.
Why not just watch the video, or read the transcript? Otherwise, why pretend you have any interest in any of this?
Thanks for the transcript! Much obliged.
I’ve enjoyed YouTube’s, ”The Everyday Astronaut”.
I would guess that ”The Angry Astronaut” is a little more edgy…. ;-)
My pleasure, and thanks for the kind remarks!
For a long time I couldn't take Angry's schtick, and was pleased to find that he's retooled, because he does his homework and is articulate about it.
My main complaint about The Everyday Astronaut vids is length. He should do more of them, short & with a single topic focus. I was overjoyed when he got picked for the now-cancelled "Hello Moon" mission, couldn't have been a better choice IMHO.
What the hell is SLS?
I nominate this for the “Worst post of the year” award. :)
You’ll have to learn how to read faster.
There’s hundreds of posts like this out there.
/s
From another source:
“The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle used by NASA. As the primary launch vehicle of the Artemis Moon landing program, SLS is designed to launch the crewed Orion spacecraft on a trans-lunar trajectory.”
This is excuse #666 as to why the “return to the moon” keeps getting postponed and delayed and postponed.
All the dumb sheeple keep believing all the “dog ate my homework” excuses.
The Deep State lies—a lot.
What? No one has mentioned DEI yet? I don’t believe it.
lol
They should have just gone to trial. Nothing’s going to change at Boeing until it’s forced.
A fine & felony mean absolutely nothing to those asstard criminals.
Top management prison time might.
Space Launch System, or in laymen terms, the big f-king rocket that is capable of a Moon trajectory and beyond.
Hmmmmmmm. Last shuttle flew in July 2011. Not much success since then for totally inept agency. Only been 13 years so.......
“expendable launch vehicle”
i thought elon musk made those obsolete ...
Exactly.
And Boeing is doing worse still with the 777X - ceding virtually the entire large commercial aircraft space to Airbus because airlines can’t afford to wait any longer.
It's like Jason and the Arguenauts, only different.
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