Abstract Half a century into the Space Age, launch vehicles and spacecraft are still prone to failures for all manner of reasons. In marked contrast to other fields of high technology, the combination of high cost and huge risk seems to be intrinsic to the endeavour.1 In the decade leading up to 1995, advances in technologies and data compression improved the economic performance of a commercial communications satellite (as measured by its lifetime, power, bandwidth and throughput) by a factor of 25, yet during this time launch vehicle capability remained static. The result was that launches and insurance often cost more than the payload. A rocket is essentially a controlled explosion. In the drive for the greatest performance, rockets are always on the ‘edge’ of technology. Yet despite their apparent robustness, they are delicate vehicles that are easily torn apart by aerodynamic stress. Many failure modes can be overcome by the provision of backup systems but this increases the mass, complexity and cost. It had been intended to phase out ‘expendable’ rockets upon the introduction of the Shuttle, but following the loss of Challenger in 1986 their production was resumed and their designs modified to drive down costs. In early 1999 a review by the Aerospace Corporation of 60 significant launch failures since 1990 by all vendors concluded that often underlying the specific cause was a case of “forgetting a lesson learned somewhere along the way”.2 The report opined that in attempting to introduce new launchers while maintaining their existing ones, companies were spreading their experienced personnel over too many projects. In fact, the industry appeared to be rife with endemic poor quality control in manufacturing — as recently evidenced by the failure of the Centaur of a Titan IVA to deploy a Milstar, the failure of an IUS of a Titan IVB to deploy a DSP satellite, the stranding of Orion 3 by a Delta III, and the catastrophic loss of several Protons.
Conclusions
2005-01-01
7 pages
Aufsatz/Kapitel (Buch)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
Wiley | 2022
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