Engineering for the Long Haul, the Nasa Way(hackaday.com)
hackaday.com
Engineering for the Long Haul, the Nasa Way
https://hackaday.com/2019/03/11/engineering-for-the-long-haul-the-nasa-way/
40 comments
To be clear, the work referenced in this article is all JPL. JPL is not exactly the same as NASA. JPL is an FFRDC administered by Caltech on behalf of NASA. This is not to say that other NASA centers aren't great; but they do all have their own cultures and processes. The article focuses on JPL's.
IMHO, JPL is the greatest engineering organization in human history.
IMHO, JPL is the greatest engineering organization in human history.
No, New Horizons (the recent mission to Pluto, and in 2019 to Ultima Thule) was run through APL, the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University, not JPL at Caltech.
Don't confuse the two; APL is actually becoming quite a rival to JPL. I recommend the book "Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto" [1] if you care to read about some of the politics.
[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36031228-chasing-new-hor...
The following is an extended quote from the book, to give you a flavor:
APL had not done many planetary missions—only one, in fact—but it had an impressive, decades-long track record of building and launching Earth observation and military satellites that performed well and were inexpensive.
…
APL’s Discovery mission was called NEAR, for “Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous.” The craft launched in 1996 and became the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid, circling for a year around the asteroid Eros. Later, it would even land on Eros, a bonus achievement that was not even conceived of in the original mission proposal. And to top that, the APL team had completed the spacecraft ahead of schedule, and ended up doing the mission for $30 million under budget, giving the money back to NASA.
…
[After the Bush administration tried to cancel the Pluto mission competition,] I was so mad I couldn’t see straight, and I smelled something fishy. If Europa went forward, JPL would be guaranteed to get the work, because that mission had simply been assigned to JPL—without competition—and it was also a far bigger monetary prize than winning Pluto would be. Alan speculated that JPL had worked behind the scenes to persuade the Bush administration more or less to trade the Pluto mission for a new start on Europa. He also believed that JPL had another interest in killing Pluto, because if APL actually won, APL’s hand would forever be strengthened as a powerful competitor in all future outer solar system exploration.
…
Tom decided to fight fire with napalm, calling his political ace in the hole—the powerful senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, where APL is located, and then chair of the Senate funding committee responsible for space exploration. At Tom’s behest, Mikulski wrote a sharp letter to NASA, demanding that NASA resume the Pluto mission competition …
Don't confuse the two; APL is actually becoming quite a rival to JPL. I recommend the book "Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto" [1] if you care to read about some of the politics.
[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36031228-chasing-new-hor...
The following is an extended quote from the book, to give you a flavor:
APL had not done many planetary missions—only one, in fact—but it had an impressive, decades-long track record of building and launching Earth observation and military satellites that performed well and were inexpensive.
…
APL’s Discovery mission was called NEAR, for “Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous.” The craft launched in 1996 and became the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid, circling for a year around the asteroid Eros. Later, it would even land on Eros, a bonus achievement that was not even conceived of in the original mission proposal. And to top that, the APL team had completed the spacecraft ahead of schedule, and ended up doing the mission for $30 million under budget, giving the money back to NASA.
…
[After the Bush administration tried to cancel the Pluto mission competition,] I was so mad I couldn’t see straight, and I smelled something fishy. If Europa went forward, JPL would be guaranteed to get the work, because that mission had simply been assigned to JPL—without competition—and it was also a far bigger monetary prize than winning Pluto would be. Alan speculated that JPL had worked behind the scenes to persuade the Bush administration more or less to trade the Pluto mission for a new start on Europa. He also believed that JPL had another interest in killing Pluto, because if APL actually won, APL’s hand would forever be strengthened as a powerful competitor in all future outer solar system exploration.
…
Tom decided to fight fire with napalm, calling his political ace in the hole—the powerful senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, where APL is located, and then chair of the Senate funding committee responsible for space exploration. At Tom’s behest, Mikulski wrote a sharp letter to NASA, demanding that NASA resume the Pluto mission competition …
I came here to say something similar but with my added first hand experience of working for a government contractor at Kennedy Space Center.
Almost all of the real engineering done by "NASA" at KSC is done by government contractors. The actual NASA employee pool had a higher than usual proportion of lazy and incompetent members because it's virtually impossible to terminate a federal government employee. The rest were hard core bureaucrats who spent most of their time jockeying for bigger offices, more responsibility, etc.
Almost all of the real engineering done by "NASA" at KSC is done by government contractors. The actual NASA employee pool had a higher than usual proportion of lazy and incompetent members because it's virtually impossible to terminate a federal government employee. The rest were hard core bureaucrats who spent most of their time jockeying for bigger offices, more responsibility, etc.
Kennedy is a different kind of facility, even from some of the other NASA Centers. There's a huge emphasis on compatibility of launch & ground systems. And, you're right about bureaucrats and you could even extend it to lobbyists.
The weird thing is they no longer do any work related to jet propulsion.
Wrong [0][1]. They still do a lot of propulsion. :D They just primarily focus on robotics now with lots of work in landing systems and spacecraft (orbiters).
[0] https://sec353ext.jpl.nasa.gov/ep/
[1] https://scienceandtechnology.jpl.nasa.gov/micropropulsion-la...
[0] https://sec353ext.jpl.nasa.gov/ep/
[1] https://scienceandtechnology.jpl.nasa.gov/micropropulsion-la...
That's not jet propulsion. Electric propulsion (ion thrusters) is very different from jet propulsion (air turbines). The NASA facility doing the most work with jets to my knowledge is Glenn in Ohio.
Yeah, and the "Aerojet" corporation never made air-breathing turbomachinery and "JATO units" were rockets, despite "JATO" standing for "jet assisted take off".
Kephael(5)
This article's image of the wiring lacing reminded me of a
tour I took of the B-29 Flying Fortress "FiFi." As I spoke with the pilot - in the cockpit - I noticed the wiring lacing on the metal frame and thought it might be original.
It certainly looked it.
Without touching anything, I commented on it, and the pilot confirmed it was original, not restoration.
She was built in 1945, almost 75 yrs ago, 20+(?) years before Panduit tie-wraps were invented. All that flight bouncing and impact and little need for replacement.
The workmanship was beautiful. Or should I say the "work-woman-ship," as was the case back then.
Without touching anything, I commented on it, and the pilot confirmed it was original, not restoration.
She was built in 1945, almost 75 yrs ago, 20+(?) years before Panduit tie-wraps were invented. All that flight bouncing and impact and little need for replacement.
The workmanship was beautiful. Or should I say the "work-woman-ship," as was the case back then.
I missed out on a tour of Fifi back in the mid 90's when I was working on my private pilot license. Didn't know she was at the airport until I was getting ready for my flight and in hindsight, I should have postponed it just to get a chance to be on that beautiful piece of machinery.
Somewhere I have a link to hundreds, if not thousands, of Kodachrome images of the work: machining, fabrication, and wiring done by those women back in WWII. I'm kind of a machinery geek and it's mindblowing to see the machines I've only known with decades of dirt, surface rust and patina, shown brand-new and gleaming.
Check out /r/cableporn if you're into OCD-grade wire harness building :-)
Somewhere I have a link to hundreds, if not thousands, of Kodachrome images of the work: machining, fabrication, and wiring done by those women back in WWII. I'm kind of a machinery geek and it's mindblowing to see the machines I've only known with decades of dirt, surface rust and patina, shown brand-new and gleaming.
Check out /r/cableporn if you're into OCD-grade wire harness building :-)
Never thought of it as OCD. Just the right way to do it is all. Thanks for the link.
It's amazing to think that the Voyager missions have been up there and producing science as long as I've been alive. It'll be a sad day when they sign off.
Plus Opportunity didn't actually die!
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7339
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7339
What a wonderful resource to have at your fingertips.
I feel the standards and attention to minute details go a long way to explain the longevity of the NASA spacecraft.
[1] https://workmanship.nasa.gov/lib/insp/2%20books/frameset.htm...