Roid Rage Spec And Ye Shall Find
May 15, 2025
Dive into the world of deep space missions on a startup budget! Discover how to break down mission requirements into actionable steps. Hear about the challenges of starting a rocket engine and the lessons learned from a thermocouple failure that nearly caused a major disaster. Explore balancing the need for reliability with budget constraints and learn how teams prioritize subsystems. Plus, insights on how to keep disagreements constructive and maintain transparency in decision-making!
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Igniter Wiring Mistake Led To Stage-Stand Fire
- Robyn recounted a miswired igniter/thermocouple change that caused a massive engine fire during a stage test.
- The root cause combined a design-change mismatch, paperwork confusion, and an unchecked assembly process.
Enforce Process After Design Changes
- When a design change occurs, purge or segregate old stock and enforce process control immediately.
- Add requirements that prevent ambiguous paperwork signoffs and enable non-conformance reporting.
Cost Sets Reliability Limits
- Cost limits define the acceptable reliability posture for deep-space missions.
- You can achieve NASA-class reliability, but it requires orders-of-magnitude higher budgets than a startup has.