Boeing has now lost $1.1 billion on Starliner, with no crew flight in sight::“We’re not really ready to talk about a launch opportunity yet.”

  • supercriticalcheese@feddit.it
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    1 year ago

    During a normal flight, these substandard links would not be an issue. But Starliner’s parachute system is designed to land a crew safely in case one of the three parachutes fails. However, due to the lower failure load limit with these soft links, if one parachute fails, it’s possible the lines between the spacecraft and its remaining two parachutes would snap due to the extra strain.

    The second issue involves P-213 glass cloth tape that is wrapped around wiring harnesses throughout the vehicle. These cables run everywhere, and Nappi said there are hundreds of feet of these wiring harnesses. The tape is intended to protect the wiring from nicks. However, during recent tests, it was discovered that under certain circumstances possible in flight, this tape is flammable.

    I cannot imagine these two are insomourtable, but it also depends on how likely are these to occur in practice.