Abstract While many examples are covered elsewhere (e.g. the Genesis failure, magnetorquer polarity errors, etc.), it is interesting to assemble a collection of failures caused by mistakes or accidents prior to launch. Spacecraft are delicate systems, and are generally safer in orbit than they are on the ground. Some of these examples illustrate the importance of assuring the reliability not only of the high-tech spacecraft themselves, but also of low-tech infrastructure on the ground: water pipes, cables, and leaky roofs can all threaten a spacecraft. Some of the examples are cases of things simply being built incorrectly. Still other failures can be traced to failures in testing. Even the silliest of mistakes have been committed during construction — including at least one case on a V-2 research flight in the early days when an experimenter neglected to remove the lens cap from the camera that was to photograph cosmic-ray tracks in what was otherwise a functional cloud chamber.1 Even more frustratingly, the Venera 11 and Venera 12 spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union successfully touched down on Venus in December 1978, but neither could eject the lens cap of its camera. By the sheerest bad luck, in March 1982, when Venera 14’s lens cap was ejected with a more powerful spring, it came to rest at the very point at which the surface-sampling arm swung down, with the result that the sensors determined the physical characteristics of this litter, rather than the surface.2


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    Titel :

    Failures on the ground


    Beteiligte:


    Erscheinungsdatum :

    2005-01-01


    Format / Umfang :

    19 pages




    Medientyp :

    Aufsatz/Kapitel (Buch)


    Format :

    Elektronische Ressource


    Sprache :

    Englisch




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