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Lockheed Martin Drops NOAA Satellite

Posted by michael on from the all-the-king's-horses-being-mobilized dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Last Saturday, engineers at Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale were rotating the NOAA-N spacecraft from vertical to horizontal when it slipped and fell - hard. SpaceRef has the story and a graphic photo of the damaged satellite."

12 of 76 comments (clear)

  1. Shit.. by leifm · · Score: 5, Funny

    And I thought I was pissed when I dropped my iBook...

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  2. They're lucky by Rick+the+Red · · Score: 3, Insightful

    that nobody got hurt! Can you imagine the shock to someone standing next to it when it fell?

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    If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
    1. Re:They're lucky by hey! · · Score: 4, Informative

      Plus the propellant system was pressurized which apparently presents some risk to techicians simply going in and messing around with the thing right now. Anyone know whey propellant was loaded in a craft that isn't scheduled to launch for five years? Perhaps the propulsion system was being pressure tested with an inert gas or something.

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  3. This Kinda thing by KMAPSRULE · · Score: 5, Insightful

    happens so often its only a matter of time before it really hurts someone:

    First, technicians from another satellite program... removed the bolts...without proper documentation.
    several programs I have worked on have had near accidents because parts were "borrowed" without redtags being applied. Second, the NOAA team working today failed to follow the procedure to verify the configuration of the NOAA "turn over cart" since they had used it a few days earlier.

    Complacency(sp?) Happens way to often in every job environment. And it takes a lot of discipline to force yourself to follow the procedures everytime day in/day out and beyond.

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    --Im an oven mitt, not an engineer! (SLArbys Radio Commercial)
  4. 24 bolts? by BigBir3d · · Score: 4, Funny

    How the heck are 24 bolts missing? Someone is sooooo fired over this one!

    1. Re:24 bolts? by gnovos · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How the heck are 24 bolts missing? Someone is sooooo fired over this one!

      And it will probably be the technician who removed them and not the manager who ordered it done.

      --
      "Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
  5. Bad Engineering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's just, what, a 20G decelleration? Heck, my laptop can survive more than that. Here, watch m

  6. Personally, I find this re-assuring... by FFFish · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...'cause it means that on the whole, no matter how bad a day I'm having, I can always remember: someone else had a far, far worse one.

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  7. Can anybody explain the accident more clearly? by spitzak · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The first impression of the photo is that the satellite tipped completly over from vertical standing on that white framework on the right. You can see another satellite standing up in that position in the background.

    However the description does not match this, it says it fell only three feet, from an apparently horizontal position.

    What I can't see is what was holding it up in that position. Was that fixture (the "roll over cart") removed? Or is it hidden behind it, or attached to the "bottom" (now on the right edge) or what? How exactly did the missing 24 bolts not become noticed until it was in this horizontal position?

    Just curious for more details. Other people's expensive mistakes are always fascinating!

    1. Re:Can anybody explain the accident more clearly? by Ahotasu · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'll give it a go.

      First, note that spacecraft (S/C) are rotated from vertical to horizontal positions very very slowly For smaller S/C, hand-cranked carts are used, but from the pictures, I think this one used a motor, which may have taken longer to "adjust" when the techs noted the problem (the S/C slipping from the plate before the fall).

      In the photo you see on the linked page, the turn-over cart is the large white structure located on the far right of the picture. The large ring is the base where the 24 missing bolts should have been. This interfaces with (most likely, I'm guessing here) the S/C launch vehicle adapter ring, which is probably the slightly flared chrome-colored cylinder at the base of the S/C (again, on the right of the picture).

      You can't tell from the picture posted, but I've seen pictures that show the ring is (only) roughly 5-10 degrees from horizontal. The ring itself, when horizontal is about 3 feet above the floor. Doubtless, what happened is that, as the plate (and therefore S/C) was rotated, the S/C started to slip off of the plate, striking the turn-over cart and then rotating over into its fatal dive.

      This is similar to how other S/C are handled, at least in my experience. It is also interesting to note that some physical S/C moves are videotaped and have significant quality assurance checkoffs. This may be limited to lifts (think crane), and vibration tests, and not "simple" turn-over maneuvers, and I'd bet this isn't the first time this turn-over cart was used, nor the first time this S/C was turned. I wonder if there are videos floating around? I'd sure as heck find it interesting to see the turn-over procedure and see where they checked off the step saying "check bolts".

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      --- Standard disclaimer applies.
  8. photoshop? by oni · · Score: 4, Funny

    I feel sorry for the engineers who's work has been damaged, but I can't help but want to photoshop this. There is a desk complete with in-out boxes just to the left of the satellite. I think there needs to be a small pool of blood there to make this funny.

    Bad news: we dropped a multi-million dollar satellite
    Worse news: it landed on Phil, the only guy who knows how to fix it.

  9. Consecutive slashdot stories by Smack · · Score: 4, Funny

    Barnes and Noble Drops Ebooks
    Lockheed Martin Drops NOAA Satellite

    Hee.