NASA is attacking the cause of two botched satellite launches, with losses of $ 700 million, to years of collisions between scientists and …

An aluminum maker accused of having launched a 19-year swindle on the quality of supply

The Glory satellite inside its fairing on a rocket, shortly before its takeoff … and its crash in the South Pacific (Source: NASA)

NASA scientists have accused one of their metal suppliers of lying on the strength of its aluminum in a 19-year-old scam that had caused the formation of $ 700 million worth of satellites and satellites. 39, other rooms.

The eggheads space agency accused the aluminum manufacturer of investigating two unsuccessful scientific missions: the unsuccessful launch of the Orbiting Carbon observatory on February 24, 2009 and the condemned launch of the Glory satellite on March 4, 2011, aimed at the monitoring of air pollution. pollutants.

In both cases, the fairing of the rocket, the forward cone protecting the payload of the satellite, did not separate after takeoff. As a result, the Observatory of Carbon in Orbit (OCO) plunged into the ocean off Antarctica, and Glory quickly crashed into the Pacific, after their rockets were fallen on Earth, the satellites still attached.

Errors were attributed to the fairing release mechanism, and more specifically to the aluminum (or aluminum in Freedom Language) used in this component. It was supplied by Sapa Profiles Inc of Oregon, USA, now renamed Portland Hydro Extrusion, Inc. NASA experts said the metals used were not up to specification and used to the federal government.

Subsequent verifications appeared to show that Sapa had falsified his test reports of materials for profit. The metal was supposed to have a special tensile strength, however, company employees rigged the tests to increase profit margins, investigators said.

"NASA relies on the integrity of our industry all along the supply chain," said Jim Norman, NASA's launch services director, earlier this week.

"Even though we do our own testing, NASA is not able to retest each component, which is why we require and pay for certain components to be tested and certified by the supplier.

"When the test results are changed and the certifications are falsely provided, the missions fail – in our case, the Taurus XL that failed for the OCO and Glory missions resulted in the loss of over $ 700 million and many years of scientific work, that we are able to trust our industry to produce, test and certify materials in accordance with the standards we demand, in which case our trust has been seriously violated. "

The federal government has revealed that it has discovered thousands of falsified documents concerning the breaking point of the Sapa metal. And we were told that NASA was not the only one to have stiffened: the same factory was supplying the US military and hundreds of other customers in America and around the world.

The responsibility was attributed to Dennis Balius, supervisor of Sapa's testing laboratory. Prosecutors said they forced lab technicians to falsify test results, recertify defective parts, and violate test standards by speeding exams and using incorrect parts. He pleaded guilty to fraud charges in July 2017 and was sentenced to three years in prison and forced to pay more than $ 170,000 in restitution.

In an amicable settlement, Sapa had agreed to pay $ 31.4 million to NASA and the US military, as well as $ 1.8 million of "ill-gotten gains", according to the terms of the Department of Justice. This ended a case of criminal fraud against the biz.

To settle a related civil case in which the manufacturer was alleged to have violated the False Statements Law, the company agreed to pay $ 6 million to NASA and $ 5 million to the Department's missile defense agency of the United States Defense. It is also forbidden to sell to US government agencies in the future.

"Our partners in NASA and the military, as well as hundreds of private companies, trust the integrity of this supplier and the structural integrity of its products," he said. said Loren & # 39; Renn & # 39; Cannon, special agent of the FBI in Portland. Outdoor office. "For nearly two decades, the greed of this company has violated that trust."

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