Tim Furniss/LONDON
NASA has promised swift action following criticism in three separate reports of the space agency's Space Shuttle and "faster, better, cheaper" spacecraft programmes.
The Space Shuttle Assessment Team has criticised NASA for cutting staff at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), saying that it has eroded safety - a "critical feature of the Shuttle programme".
The team was established after two potentially dangerous events during the launch of STS93 Columbia last July, when a short circuit almost forced the premature shutdown of one engine. In an unconnected event, hydrogen leaked from lines inside the nozzle of one main engine throughout the ascent of the Shuttle.
NASA has started to take on 200 more workers, with 1,800 Shuttle-related workers expected to be on board within two years. The report also cites morale problems, loss of skilled technicians - which has overburdened remaining employees - NASA's overconfidence about the Shuttle's systems and management's mixed messages to workers - calling for cost cutting while promoting the importance of safety.
The Boeing-Lockheed United Space Alliance, which operates the Space Shuttle for NASA and employs 3,600 at the KSC, says it refutes some of the claims of the report and adds that it will be working with NASA to "evaluate its [the report's] technical accuracy".
Meanwhile, the Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO) Mishap Investigation Board report, initiated by NASA, and the Faster, Better, Cheaper, Report have been released. They indicate that the space agency is "trying to do too much with too little money and not enough oversight". Management must be held accountable, goals clearly set and, if the money is not available, programmes downsized, the reports suggest.
Projects should be planned and implemented more carefully, with a move away from a fixation on cost and near-term gain. The loss of the MCO and, later, the Mars Polar Lander (MPL) were a "wake-up" call, says the MCO investigation report. The MCO crashed into Mars, or was destroyed in the atmosphere, because it made its approach at too shallow an angle before planned orbital insertion. A contractor had failed to convert measurements into metric units, and the failure was in not catching the mistake, the MCO report says.
The cause of the loss of the MPL is not known, with the report on this spacecraft loss yet to be issued. NASA has altered its Mars exploration plans, delaying its next lander by at least a year.
NASA administrator Daniel Goldin has praised the work of the investigations. "They have zeroed in on problem areas and have provided a roadmap for improving our performance," he says. The "faster, better, cheaper" philosophy was a cultural change, and "we knew this -would not be easy," he adds.
Source: Flight International
