Space Shuttle Challenger Case Morton-Thiokol Inc. had engineered the space shuttle's solid rocket booster (SRB) based on the Air Force's Titan III design because of its reliability. The SRB's steel case was divided into segments that were joined and sealed by rubber O-rings. Although the Titan's O-rings had occasionally been eroded by hot gases, the erosion was not regarded as significant. A second, redundant O-ring was added to each joint to act as back-up should the primary O-ring failed. As early as 1977, a test of the SRB case showed an unexpected rotation of the joints which decompressed the O-rings making it more difficult for them to seal the joints. In 1980, a review committee concluded that safety was not jeopardized and the joints were classified as Criticality 1R, denoting that joint failure could cause loss of life or shuttle (the 1 in the rating); and that secondary O-rings provided redundancy (the R in the rating). During 1983, the SRBs were modified to use thinner walls, narrower nozzles, and more powerful fuel, which worsened the joint rotation. Tests showed that the rotation could be so large that a secondary O-ring could not seal a joint and provide redundancy. The R rating was consequently removed from the joints' Criticality classification. Nevertheless, many NASA and Thiokol documents produced over the next three years continued to list the Criticality as 1R, and seemed to suggest that neither management thought that a secondary O-ring could really fail to seal a joint. In a flight readiness review of March 1984, NASA's top managers discussed and accepted the idea that some O-ring erosion was 'acceptable' because the rings embodied a safety factor. The incidence of heat damage at the SRB joints was growing -- three of the five 1984 flights showed heat damage, eight of the nine 1985 flights, and the flight on January 12, 1986, just two weeks before Challenger. In spite of these signals, the management of the SRB project at Marshall Space Flight Centre and at Thiokol remained confident that the erosion was 'allowable' and an 'acceptable risk.' The April 1985 flight showed significant damage at one primary O-ring, with a substantial amount of hot gas blowing by this ring, which in turn eroded the secondary O-ring (Bell and Esch 1987). This led Lawrence Mulloy, SRB project manager at Marshall, to place a 'launch constraint' on all subsequent flights, acknowledging that a problem of Criticality 1, 1R, 2, or 2R might occur.
"Solid Rocket Boosters." NASA. Ed. Jim Wilson. NASA, 5 Mar. 2006. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
On January 28, 1968 the space shuttle Challenger was deployed from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. One minute and thirteen seconds after liftoff the spaceship ignited in mid air and all seven crew members were killed. The cause of the destruction of the challenger was a certain part of rubber that relieves pressure on the side of the actual rocket booster called an O-ring. When a space shuttle as used as the Challenger is about to be used for another mission there should be an even more careful with checking everything before liftoff. The Challenger could have been avoided and there was way too much evidence that shows NASA had some kind of knowledge about the consequences.
It’s very hard to say what steps, if any, could have been taken to prevent the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster from occurring. When mankind continues to “push the envelope” in the interest of bettering humanity, there will always be risks. In the manned spaceflight business, we have always had to live with trade-offs. All programs do not carry equal risk nor do they offer the same benefits. The acceptable risk for a given program or operation should be worth the potential benefits to be gained. The goal should be a management system that puts safety first, but not safety at any price. As of Sept 7th, 2003, NASA has ordered extensive factory inspections of wing panels between flights that could add as much as three months to the time it takes to prepare a space shuttle orbiter for launch. NASA does all it can to safely bring its astronauts back to earth, but as stated earlier, risks are expected.
On January 28, 1986, the American shuttle Challenger was completely destroyed 73 seconds after liftoff, a catastrophic end to the shuttle's tenth mission. This disaster took the lives of all seven astronauts aboard. One of those astronauts was a teacher, Christa McAuliffe, who was selected to go on the mission and still teach but teach to students all over the United States from space. It was later determined that two rubber O-rings, which had been designed to separate the sections of the rocket booster, had failed because of cold temperatures on the morning of the launch. This tragedy and the aftermath received widespread media coverage and urged NASA to temporarily suspend all shuttle missions.
Rodney Rocha is a NASA engineer and co-chair of Debris Assessment Team (DTS). When possibility of wing damage appeared he requested an additional imagery to obtain more information in order to evaluate the damage. This demonstrates that he actually tried to resolve the issue. However, due to absence of clear organizational responsibilities in NASA those images were never received. Since foam issue was there for years and risk for the flights was estimated as low management decided not to proceed with this request. After learning of management decision Rocha wrote an e-mail there he stated that foam damage could carry grave hazard and have to be addressed. At the same time this e-mail was not send to the management team. Organizational culture at NASA could be described as highly bureaucratic with operations under standard procedures only. Low-end employees like Rocha are afraid to bring any safety-related issues to the management due to delay of the mission. They can be punished for bringing “bad news”. This type of relationship makes it impossible for two-way communication between engineers and managers, which are crucial for decision-making in complex env...
...derwent varies improvements, which involved raising the heaters in the oxygen tanks from 28 to 65 volts DC. The oxygen tanks thermostatic witches on the heaters weren’t modified to withstand the changes it underwent. On the final test of the launching pad the heaters were said to be on were vastly long period of time, which enabled the wiring in the vicinity of the heaters causing them to reach high temperatures of (1000F) which had degraded the Teflon insulation. The tank was also impacted from the 8 hours of overheating which was a sign of a potential bomb the next time those tanks were filled with oxygen again. This occurred and exploded on April 13, 1970.”Apolllo 13”
On its first day in orbit NASA engineers came to the conclusion that the foam debris that hit the left wing might have caused severe damage to the shuttle and could prevent it from a safe reentry.
The integrity of the structure and of the seals of all joints should be not less than that of the case walls throughout the design envelope (rec 198, nasa.gov).
On the morning of January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated in midair as the nation watched in disbelief and sadness. The cause of the Challenger accident was determined to be a system design failure on one of the shuttle’s solid rocket boosters. Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) are a pair of large solid strap-on rockets that were utilized by NASA during the first two minutes of the Challenger’s Space Shuttle launch. The pair of SRBs was applied to provide an extra liftoff boost for the Space Shuttle during takeoff. Each SRB were located on each side of the external propellant tank of the spacecraft. Once they began to operate, “the boosters separate from the orbiter/external tank, descend on parachutes, and land in the Atlantic Ocean” (Wilson, 2006). NASA would then send ships into the Atlantic Ocean to retrieve the boosters. The boosters were refurbished so they can be used again. According to NASA officials, “the SRBs were the largest solid-fuel rocket motors ever flown, and the first to be used for primary propulsion on human spaceflight missions” (Wilson, 2006).
Arrow Electronics is a distributor of electronic parts, including semiconductors and passive components. It was founded in 1935 and has reached number one position among electronics distributors by 1992. Arrow’s North American operations were headquartered in Melville, N.Y. Sales and marketing functions were divided among five operating groups. This case study focuses on the largest of Arrow’s groups, Arrow/Schweber (A/S).
On the fateful day of Jan. 28, 1986, America launched the challenger space shuttle but unexpectedly, this will be the last time the shuttle and its crew would leave the ground. On that day, the challenger had engineering errors that resulted in the shuttle exploding in the air and killing the crew. What went wrong? According to Denise Chow, journalist of New York daily news, an investigation revealed that a seal, called an O-ring, right solid rocket booster had failed at liftoff, allowing pressurized hot gas to escape from inside the booster. This vaporized material impinged on the strut connecting the solid rocket booster to the shuttle 's huge orange external tank, causing both pieces of hardware to break down.
CBF has hired you to help determine why they are not able to produce the 1,000 boards per day.
Despite their conception in 1903, Harley-Davidson and the motorcycle industry as a whole didn’t really take off until after the Second World War. Many people rode motorcycles during the war, with Harley-Davidson themselves supplying almost 90,000 motorcycles for the U.S. military during this time. Many veterans chose to purchase motorcycles upon returning home, as they enjoyed riding during the war and wanted to continue riding in their civilian life. This generation known as the "baby-boomers" quickly became the main target audience for many of Harley-Davidson’s marketing efforts. With sales increasing and the industry growing, many "motorcycle clubs" and "rallies" were introduced. Unfortunately, due to the lewd behavior displayed by most people associated with these clubs and rallies, bikers typically had an image of being disorderly and raucous. Harley-Davidson’s image itself took a big shot due to the Hells Angels. This was a motorcycle gang wishing to become notorious for "drug trafficking and other organized crime activities," who used only Harley-Davidson motorcycles. All of this combined to lead to a decline in demand and sales throughout the entire industry during the 1960’s. The industry was really helped out with the release of the Hollywood film Easy Rider in 1969. This film helped change the public’s perception of bikers and sparked an increase in motorcycle demand which has lasted to this day.
After the accident, a full-scale investigation was launched by the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). It concluded that the accident was caused by metal fatigue exacerbated by crevice corrosion, the corrosion is exacerbated by the salt water and the age of the aircraft was already 19 years old as the plane operated in a salt water environment.
John Warren is a seven-year senior project engineer with Goodrich was directly in charge of the original computations for the brake and the preliminary design. While using Warren’s design, it was Searle Lawson’s job to run the preliminary test for stopping 51 times. Lawson found that high temperatures increased the collapse of the brake linings before the required 51 consecutive stops. After reviewing Warren’s original design, he discovered the problem with the size of the brakes. With his discovery, he forwards the information to Warren who rejected the notion of a possible flaw in his design. Warren’s ego will not allow him to admit to the miscalculations in his design and having a graduate discovering the flaw would make him look bad in front of Goodrich. Lawson decided to surpass Warren’s authority and go directly to supervisor Robert Sink. He was told by Sink to continue with the test as Warren had directed. Several months later, Lawson tried to get the brake to pass the qualifying test by using various lining materials, which resulted in the burning of the linings.