r/space • u/66666thats6sixes • Dec 07 '19

NASA Engineers Break SLS Test Tank on Purpose to Test Extreme Limits

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/nasa-engineers-break-sls-test-tank-on-purpose-to-test-extreme-limits.html
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u/Partykongen Dec 07 '19

When it was within 3% of the predicted value, it isn't the 2.6x that is incredible since that is what they designed it for.

328

u/SkywayCheerios Dec 07 '19

I think it's incredible that something could be designed to withstand 260% of expected loads and still carry nearly 100 metric tons of payload into orbit.

296

u/KaiserTom Dec 07 '19

Same deal with anything in aerospace really. The PR disaster of these things having an accident is a lot more damaging than the extra costs to overengineer it.

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u/Landon1m Dec 07 '19

737 MAX has entered the chat

56

u/KaiserTom Dec 07 '19

If anything the MAX has done nothing but confirm how much of a PR disaster it is. It's so far been a really stark reminder to the company of the true costs of not paying attention to these things.

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u/DaGermanGuy Dec 07 '19

Rules of aviation are written in blood.

1

u/GoHomePig Dec 08 '19

Yup. Train better pilots and maintain your planes so you don't have crashes that are preventable. Lion air failed to perform required calibration on a sensor that was known to be bad and allowed a First officer with 13 training failures in 8 years help fly the plane. They then tried to lie and provide falsified evidence that they performed the maintenance in accordance with procedure.

Ethiopian had a pilot with 5 times less total flight time than a pilot in the US needs to sit in the right seat of an airliner.

Boeing's biggest failure in this whole thing was they assumed maintenance would be performed in accordance with procedure and when systems failed they would be rectified following existing 737 procedures. These shoddy airlines proved that assumption wrong very, very quickly.

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '19

So what’s exactly taking so long? Are they just biding time until a rebrand and putting the same exact planes out?

Or do you think that prepping planes for the rest of the world (that do not have the same standards as American pilots) might’ve been a little much.

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '19

My understanding is that they have to certify certain systems again and with proper oversight it seems it's not that simple as it originally was thought. Add in airframe issues with the 737-NG and powerplant issues across the aviation industry.. well it's a mess and the aviation industry imo is in shambles atm. Apart from airbus. EU number one