If the professionals can fit sensors upside down and confuse metric with imperial measurements, I'm sure a missed blown fuse is quite forgivable :)
Red-faced LOHAN team 'fesses up in blown SPEARS fuse fiasco
It's while standing in the corner of the room wearing pointy hats emblazoned with a big "D" that the Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) team admits today that the blown fuse which scuppered our recent Punch test flight actually went pop back in September last year. Youtube Video Yes indeed, during the test flight of …
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Wednesday 16th April 2014 13:34 GMT Steve Hersey
This fits within the definition of engineering
Engineering; the discipline of dealing with technical artifacts that don't work. You start with something that is totally nonfunctional (indeed, nonexistent), perform engineering activity on it, and over time produce something that is nonfunctional at progressively higher levels. Just as soon as it all works, it ceases to be the subject of engineering, and the engineer goes on to something else that doesn't work (yet).
Viewed in this context, that overlooked blown fuse is clearly part of the engineering game. Look at it this way; at least you didn't vaporize an entire crew of astronauts because of a problem you'd been explicitly warned about. Plus, you HAVE a fuse, and the worst-case consequences of the error are noncritical. All part of the game.
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Wednesday 16th April 2014 15:34 GMT Stanislaw
Re: This fits within the definition of engineering
at least you didn't vaporize an entire crew of astronauts because of a problem you'd been explicitly warned about
Yup, a tragic example of politics overriding engineering.
On the other hand, one thing that always deeply impressed me about NASA was that they already had in place their systems - such as the Flight Director polling all the various stations prior to making a major decision like launch/no launch, or of having only one person allowed to talk to the spacecraft - before the first Mercury flights. It all sounds obvious in hindsight but someone, somewhere had to think of all this stuff and then write the manuals. That's proper systems engineering, is that.
So, SPB: on the next live stream I want to hear Lester "Kranz" Haines polling each of his minions and securing a "Go!" from each before leaving hold of the balloon!
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Wednesday 16th April 2014 22:03 GMT MondoMan
Re: glass vs blade fuse
The automotive-style standard and mini blade fuses I'm familiar are *much* harder to visually evaluate, and must be viewed from the side. The glass tubes are easy to evaluate from any angle, even if buried in a circuitry box. As a final bonus, they float if dropped in your beer.
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Wednesday 16th April 2014 15:45 GMT Rick Brasche
more proof
once again, proof that it IS rocket science, and kinda hard.
Now El Reg SPB can't laugh AT SpaceX, they can only laugh WITH them.
Blown fuse, leaky thrusters-the devil is in the details.
So when do glide tests/ground launches of the airframe start? Gotta make sure it actually flies and can stabilize under boost...don't want it spinning or rolling like the SS1 tried to do.
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Wednesday 16th April 2014 15:57 GMT Gary Bickford
Read "The Checklist Manifesto"
My CEO just loaned me "The Checklist Manifesto", as he liked it. It's a good read about the history of checklists and why we need them. The first well-known modern use was very much related to flying, and avoiding minor problems like taking a nose dive into the ground. A simple checklist turned a failed Boeing bomber prototype (crashed and burned on the first test flight) into the very successful B-17 bomber. And the author notes that lives were saved during his own surgery practice due to using checklists.
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Wednesday 16th April 2014 16:00 GMT Roger Greenwood
Testing
This is why testing is such a large part of any engineering/new product. There is no substitute after you have finished playing with calculations and simulations.
I also note the lack of emphasis on checklists up to now.
Per ardua ad astra as proper pilots would say.
Good luck with the big one. Beer already cold.
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Wednesday 16th April 2014 16:11 GMT Elmer Phud
Standard Procedure
To avoid embarassing questions and awkward moments, the corporate model ought to be utilised in this situation.
Locate the one employee that had no part in putting together the bits, the sole worker who is looked on as merely a passenger.
Sorry Frogmanaut -- you get the P45.
Nothing personal, it's just business.
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Thursday 17th April 2014 04:57 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re, Polyfuses
Have been known to cause issues such as fire, turns out that under some marginal conditions they act as resistors rather than cleanly going near open resulting in overheating.
This can be prevented by following the manufacturers spec sheet and also using a fuse rated correctly for the intended load.
Disclaimer:- YMMV etc.
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Thursday 17th April 2014 14:02 GMT Eclectic Man
Public Inquiry
Surely this warrants a full public inquiry headed by a high court judge with powers to compel witnesses to attend and give evidence? As the UK's, and probably the world's, premier ballocket research organisation with global significance (you do after all have an entry in the Guinness bok of records) this is a matter of national disgrace and humiliation.
A full on public inquiry is what is needed right now to assess the harm, what went wrong, and, of course to cost millions of pounds and take years to reach a conclusion. And questions in the House.
or am I over-reacting?
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Thursday 17th April 2014 17:18 GMT Lester Haines
Re: Re: Public Inquiry
I'm launching a pre-emptive objection to the public enquiry, the members of the post-enquiry enquiry panel, and the judicials who will sit in judgement of this most serious of matters.
Then we'll appeal and sue the fuse manufacturer, and the company who supplied the materials to the fuse manufacturer. Then we'll sue all of you lot for emotional damages. Reply to this post and consider yourself sued.
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Friday 18th April 2014 12:02 GMT sniperpaddy
Real professionals use HAZOPs
A thorough HAZOP analysis would have identified this as an issue at the design stage and it would have been added to a pre-flight check list.
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At least, that's what engineering professionals do in the pharmaceutical, automotive, manufacturing, building design, medical design and, God forbid, aircraft design.
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What happened here ????,