Minor design failures that cost NASA majorly

 Ram Singh:

We have always been curious about knowing what lies beyond our atmosphere. To explore universe we relied on telescopic cameras and the inquisitiveness to know more and more made us send people into space. The findings are, of course, precious but there is a dark side too. Several space missions simply failed due to minor design issues, which led to loss of lives and huge amounts of money as well. Inefficient design and planning is usually the result of trying to rush things up. No doubt, space research has helped us a great deal in different spheres of life but still we need to be careful about our aspirations and their realizations.

Are we really being over curious about the space before we have the substantial technology and design? These are just five incidents that caused the loss of $9.2 billion due to minor design issues. The list goes on and claims billions of dollars and hundreds of lives.

1. Challenger Space Shuttle

Challenger Space Shuttle

Estimated Loss: $6.7 billion

Space shuttle Challenger was launched on January 28th, 1986. It was NASA's second orbiter (Colombia was the first) but the flight lasted only 73 seconds. The space craft crumbled over the Atlantic Ocean killing all seven crew members and disintegrated spacecraft was recovered from the ocean bed after a long search. Thiokol was the manufacturer who made SRB for Challenger. For the loss of life they had to pay $10 million compensation to NASA. The mishap resulted in a 32 months of halt on the space program.

Design failure:

Challenger Space Shuttle

The O seal in the right Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) failed during the lift off, which made a hole in the SRB joint and allowed hot gases to escape from the motor to the nearby hardware and the fuel tank. There were no counter measures in the spacecraft to avoid it and the seal was not strong enough to hold it back during the launch.

2. Orbiting Carbon Satellite (OCO)

Orbiting Carbon Satellite

Estimated loss: $170 million

The motive behind OCO was to study how carbon dioxide moves through the atmosphere. Scientists believed that by studying carbon dioxide sources and sinks they could bring a breakthrough in global warming research. The project itself was extremely hyped. The launch failed on February 24, 2009. The spacecraft crashed due to its re entry into the atmosphere. Later it sank in the Indian Ocean near Antarctica just after 17 minutes of lift off.

Design failure:

Conventionally, the rocket carries the satellite outside the atmosphere and then dissociates itself from the satellite. Unfortunately, they failed to detach and the weight pulled it back into the atmosphere. Certainly the disengaging system had some problems that led the whole assembly into the ocean. This must have been very embarrassing for NASA.

3. Genesis

Genesis

Estimated Loss: $264 million

Genesis spacecraft was sent out to collect solar winds and bring it back to the earth. From this collected wind, scientists would have got a chance to study the real composition of the sun. The spacecraft was successfully launched on August 8, 2001 and featured specially made collectors to gather solar winds. The collector was made up of gold, diamond and sapphire wafers and was successful too. But the satellite was so fragile that it couldn't even land. Though scientists were able to collect back the particles through the wafers however they lost the whole satellite.

Design failure:

Genesis

Since the satellite was not strong enough and carried precious information, so NASA decided to get hold of it in the mid air by parachutes. The solution did not work out as thought and it smashed in the Utah desert. They should have really thought of a more practical design and preventive measures.

4. Apollo

Apollo 1 Test Cabin

Estimated loss: $616 million

Apollo 1 was to be the first manned mission of Apollo which was to land on moon. The spacecraft was scheduled to launch on February 21, 1967. Unfortunately on January 27 during a pad test, a cabin fire killed all three crew members. NASA constituted Apollo 204 Accident Review Board to find out the source of fire.

Design failure:

Apollo 1 Test Cabin

The board constituted by NASA could never find out the exact source of ignition. NASA received a lot of criticism for lethal design and construction flaws. Lots of inflammable materials like Velcro and nylon were found in the cabin that became a major concern for the members. Around 113 unplanned engineering changes were made before its delivery, which might also have contributed to the cabin fire.

5. Columbia Space Shuttle

Columbia

Estimated Loss: $ 1.5 billion (approximately)

Columbia had successfully completed 27 of its previous space visits but the satellite smashed to ashes on its 28th mission, killing all seven crew members. Columbia was launched on January 16, 2003 and was making a reentry into the atmosphere after completing its mission on February 1. The spacecraft crumbled on reentry and smashed down in Texas. It fell off under high aerodynamic pressure of the lift and damaged the Thermal Protection System. The spacecraft couldn't cope up with the heat generated during reentry into the atmosphere.

Design failure:

Columbia

The main reason for the failure of the space shuttle was a small piece of foam insulation that got off during the launch. In addition, the risk management system was weak again. There were no imaging devices to pin point the possible damages on the spacecraft. Hence the engineers failed to respond to the malfunction in the left wing. There should always be counter measures on board to deal with failures like these.