Posted on 05/04/2018 1:46:23 PM PDT by Red Badger
The James Webb Space Telescope hits another snag.
On anything that moves, from vehicles to rolling office chairs, you need to be wary of bolts rattling loose over time. Thread-locking fluids and tapes are a great way to make sure your suspect bolts stay where they should, and nyloc nuts can also keep components snug and secure.
Northrop Grumman might need to look into something along these lines, because apparently "screws and washers" are falling off the spacecraft and sunshield it is building to carry NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Space News reports that NASA's JWST program director, Greg Robinson, said that hardware was found underneath the spacecraft element of JWST (everything but the mirror and instruments) after it was moved from an acoustic testing chamber to a vibration testing chamber.
“Right now we believe that all of this hardware—we’re talking screws and washers here—come from the sunshield cover,” Robinson said today at the National Academies’ Space Studies Board in Washington D.C., according to Space News. “We’re looking at what this really means and what is the recovery plan.”
It's probably a good thing the falling screws and washers were discovered before the spacecraft went into the vibration testing chamber. “It’s not terrible news, but it’s not good news, either,” Robinson continued. The JWST program director reiterated that issues like this are why NASA and its partners do extensive testing on new spacecraft before launch.
The issue was only just discovered, and NASA and Northrop Grumman are determining the best way to move forward. NASA recently announced that tears in the sunshield and leaks in the thruster valves of JWST's spacecraft element were likely to delay the $8-plus-billion space telescope's launch to May 2020 from spring 2019 (already delayed from 2018).
In response to the troubling findings, NASA has initiated an independent review of JWST launch readiness led by former NASA Goddard director Tom Young, which is expected to be completed by the end of the month. Additionally, the national space agency has sent more personnel to Northrop Grumman's facility in Redondo Beach, California—where the JWST optical telescope element is being mated to the spacecraft element—to oversee the work.
"I still believe we’ll go in 2020," Robinson said at the Space Studies Board, though he admitted the loose screws and washers could reveal a problem that "takes longer than we expect.”
Space scientists from astrobiologists to atmospheric scientists to cosmologists are chomping at the bit to switch on James Webb and turn the biggest space telescope ever built out to the firmament. Maybe someone can send Northrop a little Loctite.
Source: Space News
I never thought about that connection until now. That is really frickin' hilarious!
Clearly, great minds think alike. :>)
I got out of the high tech development business awhile ago, mostly because of the creeping Political Correctness. The entire advanced development business has now been subverted with the hiring of mediocre people who have the right skin color or are the correct sex., and they have no idea how to sweat the details.
One who think for 8 billion plus, somebody, anybody would know how to tighten a few nuts and washers.
I’m surprised there’s not a division dedicated to this task alone.
A nut ..a washer...
Pretty soon you got real problems!
oh my goodness I miss that show!
There are versions of the stuff made for space vehicles. I suppose that is because NASA contractors use it all of the time. My guess is that something well beyond your experience range affected those fasteners.
Maybe something entirely different caused the problem.
I like pop-rivets. Oreos and Dove Bars even more.
ISS fastening system hardware use anaerobic Liquid Locking Compounds (LLCs) as a means of meeting secondary locking feature requirements. During ground vibration testing, joints that had been assembled with LLCs failed to prevent fastener loosening (i.e., preload loss).
IF ONLY their budget hadn’t been cut, they would have done it right the first time.
\snort
I know you are joking, but you aren't far off, because the heat variations that will occur on that machine will be very wide. And there will be no room for error. So even if it costs $2 per tube to make, the R&D will be incredibly high for probably a one gallon production run.
I support material requirements for some aviation repair facilities and everything cost more- a lot more. Why? Because very strict performance standards with very limited production runs.
That’s the government for you.
Hey - removing that pan was almost beyond my experience factor! BUT - seeing as this failed while moving it between buildings - I’m just wondering if the same sort of vibrations that could loosen my little flat plate would loosen their big “plate”?
I was thinking that with these space vehicles they don’t need to worry about making things accessible for repairs (like I wish they did for my cars!). But - I suppose with all of the on-the-ground testing and possibility of failures or upgrades, they do need to figure on making repairs.
But your point is well made - it is pretty amazing how they can build stuff for space - and 40+ years ago at that.
Hmm - I was just thinking, talking about repairs or upgrades, I wonder if the screws were tightened down all the way and with their threadlock or whatever they use.
“Hey Harry - just get them snug but don’t torque them down. I want to get into the A panel tomorrow.” And then of course forgets about it, etc. Although one would think there would be checklists in triplicate for that type of thing.
The spacecraft that follows this one will be named the Chelsea.
“In space it’s a disaster.................”
In space, no one can hear you scream...”Dammit! Not another loose screw!”
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