Boeing and NASA have come in for scathing criticism from federal investigators, who examined the next generation of Space Launch System rockets.
A report from NASA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), released Thursday, considered progress of Space Launch System (SLS) version 1B – the rocket hoped to lift off in 2028 and carry the equipment needed to establish a base on the Moon. A key part of the craft is a new booster section, dubbed the Exploration Upper Stage (EUS), which will boost the cargo capacity of the SLS by 40 percent.
If Boeing can build it.
After a two-year study of NASA’s assembly facility in New Orleans, the inspectors found Boeing staff made numerous errors – including substandard welding on oxygen tanks, and metal and Teflon shavings left inside the liquid hydrogen tank. Those messes delayed the program by seven months.
The OIG found a low level of skill among production workers. Low staff retention was another issue, attributed to two factors: pay that’s lower than industry standards, and the New Orleans location of the facility – which made it hard to attract talented workers.
Boeing received 71 Corrective Action Requests over the two years – a much higher figure than is normal according to the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). Many of the errors Boeing made were the same kind of quality control fails that have hurt its commercial airplane manufacturing operations: self-certifying shoddy work, not tracking jobs so that repairs can be checked, and “unacceptable environmental conditions.”
“We found that Boeing’s quality management system does not meet industry standards in core stage production,” the report states. “Given Boeing’s quality management and its related workforce challenges, we are concerned these factors could potentially impact the safety of the SLS and Orion spacecraft including its crew and cargo.”
This is a high-stakes program. The first three Block 1 SLS systems will put US crews on the Moon for the first time in half a century and, if all goes well, enable creation of a base on our sole natural satellite.
NASA’s not exactly blameless in all this
If the program misses its schedule, Boeing won’t be the only one wearing blame.
The report notes that NASA has changed made decisions that delayed the program and helped it to sail beyond initial budgets.
The report notes that work began on Block 1B in 2014, when it was expected to be the vehicle for the second mission in the Artemis program. But NASA decided to switch Block 1B to the fourth mission – more than doubling the cost of its contract with Boeing.
Currently the estimated costs for the Block 1B build from NASA are around $5 billion, but according to the inspectors this will rise to around $5.7 billion because of cost overruns and planned changes to the program. Similarly, the development costs of the EUS were forecast at $962 million, but have since risen to $2.8 billion by 2028. A large part of that change is attributable to the aerospace agency shifting funding to cover cost overruns in the Artemis I development process.
The report also criticizes management of the project and its various problems.
“Without a formal cost and schedule baseline at critical milestones, the Agency was limited in its ability to assess adherence to budgets and timelines, and Congress and other stakeholders lacked visibility into the Block 1B’s increasing costs and schedule delays,” it reads.
The OIG suggests four ways to improve matters:
- Establish a training program for Boeing contractors to ensure quality control is up to standard;
- Implement financial penalties for Boeing if it fails to meet quality standards;
- Draw up a detailed timeline for the development of EUS and ensure it is followed;
- Work with the Defense Contract Management Agency to ensure compliance.
NASA agreed with three of those points, but is unwilling to charge Boeing if the contractor fails to meet quality standards.
“NASA non-concurs. NASA interprets this recommendation to be directing NASA to institute penalties outside the bounds of the contract,” the agency argued. “Instituting financial penalties outside the bounds of the contract subverts the control process of the contract.”
Maybe someone at NASA should ask Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams – the two Boeing Starliner test pilots who might be stuck in space until next year – how they feel about that.
A new hope?
The report comes at an unfortunate time for Boeing’s new CEO Kelly Ortberg, who started work on Thursday. Ortberg, a qualified mechanical engineer who has spent most of his life in aerospace, was lured out of retirement at 64 to fix Boeing’s corporate problems. His first move was to return Boeing’s corporate headquarters to Seattle and spend his first day on the production floor speaking with staff.
“Restoring trust starts with meeting our commitments – whether that’s building high quality, safe commercial aircraft, delivering on defense and space products that allow our customers to meet their mission, or servicing our products to keep our customers running 24/7,” he is quoted as saying in a statement.
“It also means meeting our commitments to each other and working collaboratively across Boeing to meet our goals. People’s lives depend on what we do every day, and we must keep that top of mind with every decision we make.”
The CEO is apparently quite popular at Boeing, as his management style elevates engineering.
It’s clear Boeing has a serious quality problem, and the OIG report backs that up. Ortberg has a lot to clean up – not least those metal shavings in fuel tanks.
Boeing declined to comment on the report, referring The Register to NASA’s statement. ®
