Weather Sattelite Falls 3'

[Aquawind]

Satellite topples to floor in mishap
Thursday, September 11, 2003 Posted: 10:06 AM EDT (1406 GMT)



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• NOAA
• Lockheed Martin

SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- A nearly completed, $239 million weather satellite toppled to the floor as it was being moved at a Lockheed Martin plant and was seriously damaged, officials said this week.

The NOAA-N Prime was being moved from a vertical to a horizontal position when it fell nearly a meter (three feet) Saturday at the Sunnyvale facility.

The satellite was intended to go into polar orbit in 2008 and monitor the climate for up to four years. In addition to weather, vegetation and drought studies, it was to be used for receiving distress signals from mariners and hikers.

Officials said it was too early to determine how its schedule might be affected or whether any of its tasks will have to be changed.

According to a source close to the program, bolts that were supposed to secure the satellite to the "turn over cart" had been removed a day earlier by a crew working on another satellite project. The crew working on NOAA-N Prime did not notice the bolts were missing when they tried to flip the satellite, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.



Lockheed Martin spokesman Buddy Nelson said it appears that the cart "was not in the proper configuration for the planned activity."

"We're reviewing the paperwork and examining the hardware to determine the facts," he said. No one had access to the spacecraft since the mishap. Crews must wait for its batteries to drain and propellant tanks to depressurize before approaching the 4.2-meter (14-foot) satellite.

"It will probably be a couple to three weeks," said Gary Davis, director of the office of systems development for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The construction and launch are being overseen by NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center. After launch and testing, the satellite was to be turned over to NOAA.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. has been building weather satellites since the first one went up in the early 1960s.

In 2000, a $40 million spacecraft was damaged during vibration tests because a table at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was misaligned.

[rob8303]

I'm sorry but that is too funny. due to incompetence
Seriously though, for the designers of the satelite, imagine how they feel :o

[dixiebreeze]

Aqua, I posted that twice in the past 2 days -- but it probably bears repeating