Just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse for Boeing’s attempt to put a crew into orbit, along comes a long-standing feud in the rocket valve industry for a shocking third act.
A rival space company has stepped out of the box to warn NASA of a “risk of launch pad disaster” and advised the space agency to “immediately halt” the Starliner launch. The dramatic warning was issued on Wednesday by ValveTech, which recently lost a legal battle over the valve design for the Starliner’s propulsion system, according to Payload.
OK, here’s the tea.
Earlier this week, NASA and Boeing were forced to withdraw from an attempted launch of the Starliner spacecraft due to a faulty valve that ground crews discovered just hours before liftoff.
The Boeing crew capsule was mounted on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket, ready to transport NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Hours before Monday’s scheduled liftoff, however, ULA announced that the launch had been canceled “due to an observation on a self-regulating liquid oxygen solenoid valve on the upper part of the Centaur.”
The valve regulates the flow and pressure of liquid oxygen in the rocket’s upper stage. It uses a solenoid – a type of electromagnet – to open and close when needed, providing a safe release of excess pressure.
After the clean launch, ULA CEO Tory Bruno said the crew working on the launch pad heard an audible buzzing noise produced by the faulty valve. The company decided to replace the valve entirely rather than attempt to repair it, with the new launch date now set for May 17.
“After evaluating the valve’s history, data signatures from the launch experience, and assessing the risks of continued use, the ULA team determined that the valve exceeded its qualifications, and mission managers agreed to remove and replace the valve,” NASA wrote in statement.
That still wasn’t enough for some people. “NASA needs to redouble safety checks and review safety protocols to make sure Starliner is safe before something catastrophic happens to astronauts and people on the ground,” ValveTech President Erin Faville said in the statement.
Just to clarify, the valve is on the rocket carrying the Starliner, not the manned spacecraft itself. ValveTech’s apparent beef, however, is with the company supplying Boeing with valves for its Starliner spacecraft.
In 2017, Aerojet Rocketdyne, a subsidiary of defense company L3Harris, ended its relationship with ValveTech over valve design disputes, Payload reported. Aerojet Rocketdyne hired ValveTech to build valves for the Starliner’s propulsion system (which was different from ULA’s rocket pressure control valve), and ValveTech later sued Aerojet Rocketdyne for allegedly misusing its trade secrets for new valve designs.
In November 2023, a jury found that Aerojet Rocketdyne violated two nondisclosure agreements with ValveTech and improperly retained and used its private information. ValveTech requested additional restrictions on Aerojet Rocketdyne, but the proposal was rejected.
The company now claims that the valve used for the Starliner’s propulsion system, provided by Aerojet Rocketdyne, “was not qualified to the correct specifications and was not evaluated to ensure safety protocols,” ValveTech wrote in its statement.
“ValveTech continues to question how NASA, Boeing and Aerojet could have qualified this valve for the mission without adequate supporting data or prior history or legacy information, which in its experience is contrary to the aerospace qualification protocols established by NASA,” it added the company.
In response to ValveTech’s statement, ULA’s Bruno wrote to X, “I don’t know what to say about this one. Almost none of this is correct… It is remarkable that the particular person quoted does not seem to know how this type of valve works.’
A Boeing spokesperson told Payload that ValveTech’s speculation about Monday’s clean launch was “inaccurate and irresponsible.” The Starliner has had its flaws in the past, but this time the manned spacecraft doesn’t deserve the misdirected shade.
Gizmodo has reached out to ValveTech for comment; however, there was no response prior to publication.
of Boeing Flight test with crew is part of NASA’s commercial crew program and is designed to transport crew and cargo to and from the ISS below 4.3 billion dollars contract. NASA’s other commercial partner, SpaceX, recently launched its eighth crew to the space station, while Boeing can’t seem to shake its curse.
The program suffered from a many problems and delaysincluding a failed unmanned test flight in 2019. The launch of Boeing’s crewed Starliner was originally set for February 2023, then pushed back to late April and finally rescheduled for July 21, 2023. However, a few weeks before liftoff, the company announced that it abandoning the launch attempt to address newly discovered problems with the crew vehicle, including a mile worth of flammable tape that had to be manually removed. After the May 6 cleanup due to the aforementioned hum valve issue, the crewed capsule will be launched no earlier than May 17.
Boeing’s latest Starliner launch delay may not be the company’s fault, but it has sparked an entertaining, if misguided, argument to continue the streak of misfortune that has plagued the program since its inception.
For more space flights in your life, follow us h and bookmark the Gizmodo dedicated Space Flight Page.
