Boeing's Starliner Delayed Again - This Time It's the Batteries
 

From The Register

Boeing's first mission carrying astronauts to the International Space Station aboard its Starliner capsule, scheduled for April, is now delayed until summer due to the risk of overheating batteries.

NASA is concerned that the Starliner's lithium-ion batteries could overheat while docked to the ISS. Although executives from the space agency agreed the risks were low, they were hesitant to move forward with Boeing's mission to loft two astronauts, Sunita "Suni" Williams and Barry "Butch" Wilmore, into orbit.

....

Boeing is also planning to revamp a section of its spacecraft containing thrusters used to separate Starliner's main crew module from its service module, before it returns to Earth. NASA has agreed to fork out at least $24.8 million to overhaul the system.

Full article at
https://www.theregister.com/2023/03...iner_iss_delay/

GAAAAAHHH!

As an almost 38-year Boeing engineer, but about 6 1/2 years retired (and whose last program was the 737 Max), this just frosts me no end.

The 787 battery mess was in part because they contractor for the battery charger didn't understand about balancing lithium batteries when you charge them — something that we model airplane hobbyists knew at the time — and now this?? The box they put around the battery on the 787 negated the weight savings for using them in the first place. But so much of what should have been in-house system design was outsourced on the 787 at exactly the wrong point in the design (my opinion) and now it looks like this is going to have a similar fix (well, assuming "The Register" has it right).

As I said: GAAAAAHHHHHK!

Outsourcing critical components almost always bites you right in the behind.
That 787 battery issue is ABSURD. An engineer not knowing charging characteristics of a battery that is system critical is ridiculous.

The word "Starliner" is synonymous with "Delay" in the latest version of Roget's Thesaurus.

Sadly, so it would seem.

Corporations love reducing up-front dollars that they end up paying umpteen-X on the back end.
Stupid short-term vision.
That's one area that Japan crushes us on. Long term strategy/vision.

While the 787 program was (still is to some degree) a poster child for that short-sightedness, obviously the lesson wasn't learned. I often groaned whenever we had to put together "lessons learned" documents after a big project. I suspect the same sorts of things go on inside GM, too....

This reminds me that in January, "Elon said" that unless there were problems, then Starship would make its orbital launch in March.

OK, no problems reported by him to indicate delay. So I guess it's gonna fly by Friday? :)

No, I never go by any time frame that he says, unless it's like a week away. And even then I at least double if not quadruple it. I suffered thru the "Falcon Heavy launch in six months" lying for too many years.

There is a HUGE shortage of technical talent due to the explosion in space hardware startups. I would suspect that the best, young talent prefers to work for the exciting, innovative startups that think "outside the box" and not the legacy aerospace industry.

Space storm rising
March 20, 2023

https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4551/1

Excerpts:

There is a storm coming for the space industry. The workforce is not large enough to support the needs of the current commercial and government landscape. Without quality talent entering the space workforce quickly, the near vertical trajectory of economic growth will drastically miss estimates. In fact, the storm is already here, as most organizations are consistently competing for the same talent, rather than investing in new professional development models capable of creating sustainable talent pipelines. Stuck in an outdated paradigm for learning and professional development, the space industry must grow out from under this to solve this problem.

[snip]

From large to small, companies are scrambling to fill positions. The following is a sampling of open positions extending throughout the industry as the time we wrote the article:

SpaceX: 892
Blue Origin: 3208
Ball Aerospace: 286
Sierra Space: 264
Virgin Orbit: 150 [not any more - W]
Axiom: 195

[snip]

Update: Apparently they still need to do one last parachute test and review all of the parachute data. From Ars Technica:

The manager of NASA's Commercial Crew program, Steve Stich, said the delay was attributable to the extra time needed to close out the pre-flight review process of Starliner and also due to traffic from other vehicles visiting the space station in June and the first half of July.
...

"But there's one area that's extending out into the May time frame, and this really has to do with the certification products for the parachute system."

Boeing has conducted more than 20 tests of its parachute system, including dropping the vehicle from different altitudes to test their deployment sequence and how the parachutes perform in different environments to simulate returning from space. Stich said there are no issues with the parachutes, which are installed on Starliner already. Mostly, it is about reviewing all the tests Boeing has done to ensure the parachutes performed as intended.
...
There is one final test to be completed on the ground, he said, of a parachute subsystem that pulls Starliner's forward heat shield away and sets up deployment of the drogue and then main parachutes. That test is targeted for May.

Full article at https://arstechnica.com/science/202...for-parachutes/

And delayed again: more parachute harness issues, and flammable adhsive on tape used on wirings harnesses (!!!): https://spaceflightnow.com/2023/06/...r-crew-capsule/

As a retired Boeing guy all I can say is *sigh*