NASA Chute deployment wired wrong

[VTS SkunkWorks]

NASA thinks it knows why the OSIRIS-REx asteroid probe's return capsule failed to deploy its drogue parachute as planned while descending through Earth's atmosphere on Sept. 24.


The problem, which did not prevent the capsule from landing safely and softly that day, was likely caused by crossed wires.

"After a thorough review of the descent video and the capsule's extensive documentation, NASA found that inconsistent wiring label definitions in the design plans likely caused engineers to wire the parachutes' release triggers such that signals meant to deploy the drogue chute fired out of order," agency officials wrote in a blog post on Tuesday (Dec. 5).

 

[KenECoyote]

Didn't they follow the Eggtimer directions?

 

[Art Upton]

The Star Dust recovery device did not fire parachute correctly a decade ago because the G-Switches were wired backwards...

 

[GalantVR41062]

Arrows up, primary/backup, drogue, main markings... lol.

 

[RocketPro]

I’m dumb-founded that they didn’t do a “first motion” firing of that system prior to the final parachute loading. Pretty easy to fire all the NSI’s and then reload them…

I managed a mission that will deploy a telescope cover and we’ve tested it in three different configurations including off-nominal thermal conditions and using the complete flight system software load. That’s pretty standard practice for testing.

 

[KenECoyote]

I’m dumb-founded that they didn’t do a “first motion” firing of that system prior to the final parachute loading. Pretty easy to fire all the NSI’s and then reload them…

I managed a mission that will deploy a telescope cover and we’ve tested it in three different configurations including off-nominal thermal conditions and using the complete flight system software load. That’s pretty standard practice for testing.

Actually it's sad how often I've heard of past failures such as this with other space missions. My comment about the Eggtimer was tongue-in-cheek to make light of how idiotic it can be at their level given the high stakes of any error.

Even for us, how many times do we hear and/or preach to test dual deployment on the ground before sending it up? I posted just that yesterday.

 

[cwbullet]

It is a testimate to check twice and get a buddy to check a third time.

 

[NTP2]

They can’t test everything, maybe they thought that NASA could never make such a mistake and never tested anything like that. It’s happened before.

 

[KenECoyote]

Looks right!

 

[DigBaddy]

If I had to guess, testing was shelved to help meet budget.

I'm a lead systems and software engineer at a fortune 90 company; want to guess what part of software development management wants to not do to speed things up and save $?

But, then I get to come up with solutions to catch things that should have been caught in testing; so I get to look like the hero

 

[KenECoyote]

I co-managed a major account at one of my early jobs (a multimillion dollar contract that made up 30% of the company's revenue) and I was tasked with processing and delivering data twice a week without error (which also meant working full speed past midnight twice a week) because the data was used to decide on national ad campaigns.

Error reduction became a requirement (and personal fascination) and my team went 3 years without error.

Things like this reminds us of how easy it is for anyone to make an error and so you should never think you're above it. Checking is never a waste of time*.

*At the next job, during a period of massive downsizing and "productivity research", upper management told us that we shouldn't need someone else doing a second check of our work since it should be done right the first time.

 

[Bob Yanecek]

They can’t test everything, maybe they thought that NASA could never make such a mistake and never tested anything like that. It’s happened before.

Like confusing meters with yards

 

[Dipstick]

Guess Adrian wasn't working with them anymore

 

[Keisling]

That's OK, NASA. I once forgot to close a quicklink on a main chute.

 

[NTP2]

Like confusing meters with yards

Exactly!