{"id":17845,"date":"2019-12-21T19:17:37","date_gmt":"2019-12-21T11:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-and-boeing-trace-roots-of-starliners-bad-timing-and-prepare-for-landing\/"},"modified":"2019-12-21T19:17:37","modified_gmt":"2019-12-21T11:17:37","slug":"nasa-and-boeing-trace-roots-of-starliners-bad-timing-and-prepare-for-landing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-and-boeing-trace-roots-of-starliners-bad-timing-and-prepare-for-landing\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA and Boeing trace roots of Starliner\u2019s bad timing \u2014 and prepare for landing"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_539079\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-539079\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-539079\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191221-starliner2-630x325.jpg\" alt=\"Starliner in orbit\" width=\"630\" height=\"325\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191221-starliner2-630x325.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191221-starliner2-1260x649.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191221-starliner2-768x396.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191221-starliner2-1536x791.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/191221-starliner2.jpg 1999w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-539079\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist\u2019s conception shows Boeing\u2019s CST-100 Starliner space taxi in orbit. (Boeing Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>NASA and Boeing say they\u2019ve learned more about the timing glitch that kept Boeing\u2019s uncrewed CST-100 Starliner space taxi from making its planned rendezvous with the International Space Station \u2014 and they\u2019re getting \u201can enormous amount of data\u201d in advance of Sunday\u2019s planned touchdown.<\/p>\n<p>Starliner was launched early Friday on what was supposed to be the last flight test before astronauts climbed on board. About a half-hour after launch, the mission went awry when a scheduled orbital insertion burn didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n<p>Ground controllers scrambled to get the autonomously controlled spacecraft into a stable orbit, but in the process, so much thruster fuel was used up that the boosting maneuvers for getting to the space station had to be canceled.<\/p>\n<p>NASA and Boeing decided to pursue as many of the test objectives as they could without flying to the station, and made plans for Sunday\u2019s early touchdown at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Starliner is currently in a 155-mile-high (250-kilometer-high) circular orbit, lined up for a parachute-assisted, airbag-cushioned landing at 7:57 a.m. ET (4:57 a.m. PT). NASA will start streaming-video coverage at 6:45 a.m. ET (3:45 a.m. PT):<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"NASA Live: Official Stream of NASA TV\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/21X5lGlDOfg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.75\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"600\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 600px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>If mission managers have to pass up the morning landing opportunity, the backup opportunity for a White Sands touchdown comes at 3:48 p.m. ET (12:48 p.m. PT).<\/p>\n<p>NASA and Boeing officials said the spacecraft is healthy and that they\u2019re checking off a lot of the test objectives. \u201cThere are some really good milestones that we\u2019ve been able to achieve,\u201d NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said today during a teleconference with reporters.<\/p>\n<p>For example, mission managers were able to extend and retract the docking system that would be used for hooking up with the space station. They verified that Starliner\u2019s artificial vision and navigation system, known as VESTA, works well in orbit. And they successfully put Starliner through procedures for stopping, backing away and going forward with a docking attempt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMake no mistake: We still have plenty to address,\u201d said Jim Chilton, senior vice president for space and missile systems at Boeing Defense, Space and Security.<\/p>\n<p>One of the big issues relates to Starliner\u2019s misfire. Chilton confirmed earlier suspicions that Starliner\u2019s computers picked up an incorrect timestamp from computers on the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket that launched the capsule.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis doesn\u2019t look like an Atlas problem,\u201d Chilton said. \u201cThis looks like we reached in there and grabbed the wrong coefficient. More to learn there, but it\u2019s not more complicated than that. We started the clock at the wrong time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After separation, Starliner\u2019s computer didn\u2019t execute its engine firings in the correct sequence. Instead of firing the designated rocket engines, it fired less powerful sets of thrusters to try to fine-tune its trajectory.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Check out this 11-second video of Starliner\u2019s separation from its Atlas 5 launch vehicle, as seen by a camera on the rocket\u2019s Centaur upper stage:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Starliner Centaur Separation \u2013 Video courtesy United Launch Alliance\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/D_HWLdNaJJo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Chilton said the timing issue and the resulting misfires caused Starliner to be in the wrong position at the wrong time for its antennas to lock onto NASA\u2019s constellation of TDRS satellites effectively.<\/p>\n<p>By the time ground controllers were able to upload the commands for a correction, there wasn\u2019t enough thruster fuel left for a safe rendezvous with the space station.<\/p>\n<p>The misfires taxed the thrusters to the point that sensors started reporting errors. \u201cWe heated up some sensors by stepping on the gas hard,\u201d Chilton said.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, the Boeing team has tested the components on the in-orbit propulsion system and determined that the system is good to go for Starliner\u2019s descent. A different set of thrusters on Starliner\u2019s crew module will come into play during the latter stages of the descent, and those have been checked out as well.<\/p>\n<p>After Sunday\u2019s touchdown, engineers from Boeing and NASA will review readings that have been recorded onboard the spacecraft \u2014 by flight instruments as well as by sensors attached to a test dummy nicknamed Rosie the Rocketeer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are just going to get an enormous amount of data,\u201d Chilton said.<\/p>\n<p>Based on that review, plus the post-flight investigation of the timing system anomaly, NASA will decide whether yet another uncrewed test flight or other measures will be needed before going ahead with the first crewed test flight to the space station.<\/p>\n<p>Chilton said Boeing will do whatever is required to move on to crewed Starliner missions, including conducting another uncrewed flight test if necessary. \u201cWe\u2019re in,\u201d he said. \u201cSimple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bridenstine said that if crew members were aboard Starliner for Friday\u2019s launch and ascent, they might well have been able to take control of Starliner and put it back on the right path for a rendezvous.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe biggest challenge with this particular test is that it\u2019s all automated,\u201d he said. \u201cSome of the automation is what failed, and when I say \u2018failed,\u2019 we\u2019re just talking about, it had the wrong timing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NASA\u2019s chief said he was confident that \u201cwe can get it fixed,\u201d but he made clear that the schedule for future commercial test flights wasn\u2019t currently uppermost in the minds of mission planners.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want us to focus like a laser on this entry, descent and landing for tomorrow,\u201d Bridenstine said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s conception shows Boeing\u2019s CST-100 Starliner space taxi in orbit. (Boeing Illustration) NASA and Boeing say they\u2019ve learned more about the timing glitch that kept Boeing\u2019s uncrewed CST-100 Starliner space taxi from making its planned rendezvous with the International Space Station \u2014 and they\u2019re getting \u201can enormous amount of data\u201d in advance of Sunday\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[670,291,717,190,1306],"class_list":["post-17845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-boeing","tag-commercial-space","tag-international-space-station","tag-nasa","tag-starliner"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17845"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}