Antares Engine Problems Were Not News
Before explosion, NASA knew aging Soviet engines posed risks, LA Times
“Years before an unmanned rocket erupted in a fireball in October, NASA officials knew the metal in its 50-year-old Soviet-made engines could crack, causing fuel to leak and ignite, government documents show. As early as 2008, a NASA committee warned about the “substantial” risk of using the decades-old engines, and a fire during a 2011 engine test in Mississippi heightened the agency’s concern. The engines had a “fundamental flaw in the materials,” said a top manager for NASA’s contracted rocket builder, Orbital Sciences, in a 2013 interview with an agency historian. The Soviet engines were built in the 1960s and 1970s in a failed attempt to take cosmonauts to the moon.”
NASA was aware of many issues but not all. it was taking roughly 3 engines to make one usable engine, even with low acceptance criteria. But they were only observers since engines for delivering groceries are not critical.
I would sincerely appreciate a real investigation at Aerojet and recognition for those that protested and were removed.
When the Russian’s rebuilt an NK-33 for launch in a Soyuz 2.1v back in in December 2013, aerojet engineers were there for the engine stand tests (3 tests, total burn time 616 seconds). The Russians reportedly installed new-manufactured combustion chamber components an engine manifold and “new mechanical-rubber details of engine’s components.” (Russian Space News)
When is someone going to tell NASA no? This is very bad news.