Upside-Down Sensors Caused Proton-M Rocket Crash 323
Michi writes "According to Anatoly Zak, the crash of the Russion Proton rocket on 1 July was apparently caused by several angular velocity sensors having been installed upside down. From the source: 'Each of those sensors had an arrow that was supposed to point toward the top of the vehicle, however multiple sensors on the failed rocket were pointing downward instead.' It seems amazing that something as fundamental as this was not caught during quality control. Even more amazing is that the design of the sensors permits them to be installed in the wrong orientation in the first place. Even the simplest of mechanical interlocks (such as a notch at one end that must be matched with a corresponding projection) could have prevented the accident."
A review of the quality control procedures used by the contractors responsible is underway.
vodka and work don't mix (Score:5, Interesting)
being from there i bet half the people working on this came to work drunk and/or hung over most days
Re:QA is not the problem (Score:4, Interesting)
Never underestimate the ingenuity that people are capable of in order to install something wrong. Somebody in our office forced (yes, forced) a Xerox Phaser ink block in the the slot the wrong way round. The thing is basically a shape sorter that a toddler is capable of understanding.
Shades of the US "Genesis" sample return probe... (Score:5, Interesting)
which plowed into the desert floor without deploying any parachutes because a G-switch was installed backwards...
http://www.universetoday.com/73/genesis-accident-report-released/ [universetoday.com]
Re:(The Real) Murphy's Law strikes again! (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, the real, original Murphy's law apparently came from Col. Stapp, who was testing rocket sleds for the rocket program.
I should note that the putative original Murphy's Law reads, "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it." [murphyslaws.net]. The website goes on to say "This is a principle of defensive design, cited here because it is usually given in mutant forms less descriptive of the challenges of design for lusers. For example, you don't make a two-pin plug symmetrical and then label it `THIS WAY UP'; if it matters which way it is plugged in, then you make the design asymmetrical."
Highly appropriate to the topic, I might say. If only they had labeled, with the arrow, the words "up", and put another arrow down, with the letters "dn" for "down", then none of this would have happened.
For those who wish to nit-pick my attention to detail and editing, also, I will for further irony include the wikipedia link, as well: http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry%27s_law [wikipedia.org]
I have seen something similar. (Score:4, Interesting)
In the postmortem the flight director started with, "... we sadly lost the vehicle after a flight of 1.5 seconds ...". The mission director interrupted, "What flight? The damned thing had a 6000 Kg[sic][*] rocket booster. You can put it under a 3 ton rock and it will 'fly' for more than 2 seconds..."
[*]He should have said 6000 Kgf-sec, because that was the impulse delivered by the twin rocket boosters each 1500 Kgf thrust burning for 2 seconds.
Re:QA is not the problem (Score:5, Interesting)
An old joke:
A militia (communist police) station has been ordered to conduct an intelligence test. It consisted of a board with three holes: a circle, a triangle and a square, and three corresponding blocks. The next days, the commandant announces: I'm very proud of our station: all of you passed the test! 5% have shown exceptional intelligence, 95% exceptional strength!
Contractors? (Score:4, Interesting)
The Russians are using contractors, now?
On the other hand, they seem to be doing vastly better than the US these days - we have NO WAY to put someone in orbit (unless the Pentagon's got a black program).
We also had Challenger and Columbia. And on the latter note, I'll add that I believe my late ex's analysis, rather than the "it's falling insulation" answer. She was an engineer, and worked at the Cape for 17 years, including on the Shuttle, and she thought that some of the inspections that were supposed to be done were *not* being done, or not being done as frequently as they were supposed to have been... and that the hydraulic lines broke due to stress corrosion microcracking, and there went the aerilons.
So, how many astronauts/cosmonauts have the Russians lost lately?
mark
Re:QA is not the problem (Score:4, Interesting)
IT IS NOT ZERO, its 0.004187 degrees per second around some vector. The Earth is turning!
Re:The quality conrol problems... (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, that's wrong. Capitalism is designed with corruption and greed in mind. Greed motivates entities to perform better in the market and get more stuff. Corruption is dealt with by entities shifting to competitors who are screwing them less. Capitalism's failure is in assuming all involved entities are sufficiently intelligent to be aware of when they're being screwed, and principled enough to forgo what they want to avoid being screwed.
Re:The quality conrol problems... (Score:2, Interesting)
I've long thought that the problem with Communism is that it assumes that people are essentially good, efficient and responsible. If the people fail to meet that standard then Communism suffers.
Capitalism assumes that people are essentially bad, lazy and corrupt. If the people do better than that then Capitalism benefits.