NASA has sold defective aluminum in a 19-year-old scam

NASA revealed Tuesday that two missed missions had been caused by a 19-year-old aluminum scam.

The space agency has previously declared the Orbital Carbon Observatory 2009 and Glory 2011 the missions went awry when the Taurus XL rocket rocket protection cones were not separated by order.

However, a joint investigation by NASA and the Justice Department revealed that the problem was attributable to aluminum extruder manufacturer Sapa Profiles, which faked critical tests over 19 years.

Employees at the company's facilities in Portland, Oregon, modified the failed tests, so the materials appear to have gone from 1996 to 2015, according to the Department of Justice.

"They then provided the false test results to hundreds of customers across the country, with the goal of increasing corporate profits and obtaining production-based bonuses," wrote G. Zachary Terwilliger, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Sapa, which has since changed its name to Hydro Extrusion Portland, has agreed to pay $ 46 million to the US government and other commercial customers, which is not even close to the $ 700 million lost by NASA to following the failures of Taurus XL. The company is also prevented from contracting with the federal government.

"It is essential to be able to trust our industry to produce, test and certify the materials to the required standards, in which case our trust has been severely violated," said Jim Norman, NASA's Director of Launch Services. Release.

First published at 4 am
Updated at 4:27 am (Pacific time): Add more details.

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