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SARVAJANIK UNIVERSITY SARVAJANIK COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY Subject : Ethics For Engineers (BTAS10102) B.Tech. I, Sem. 1 [2021-2022] EC-03 Priyanshi Patel Branch- Electronics and Communication‘The Challenger Disaster’Guided by:- Mahesh Trivedi/Ankita Dave, Vani Nair
The Challenger Mission 51L • 10thmission for the Challenger Shuttle • TISP – Teachers In Space Program • Christa McAuliffe • Politically Charged Launch • Christa was to appear via television link during Reagan’s State of the Union Address in 1986
Challenger Delays • Liftoff Initially Scheduled for 15:43 EST on Jan. 22, 1986 • Delays in 61-C mission pushed liftoff to Jan. 23, then Jan. 24 • Reset to Jan. 25 due to weather • Postponed another day due to launch processing problems • Rescheduled for 9:37 EST Jan. 27 due to weather • Delayed again due to equipment failure for 24 hours • Final 2 hour delay due to hardware interface module problems Liftoff: 11:38 EST January 28, 1986
The Challenger Disaster 73 Seconds After Liftoff
What Went Wrong?? • Failure of an “O-ring” seal in the solid-fuel rocket on the Space Shuttle Challenger's right side • Flames cut into main liquid fuel tank
Four Main Causes of O-Ring Failure • Pre-flight Leak Tests • O-Ring Erosions • Joint Rotation • Low Temperatures
Poor Risk Management • Risks were managed using Critical Items Lists • Criticality 1-Loss of Life or Ship • Criticality 2-Mission Aborted • CIL Flaws • Unreliable • In previous missions, criticality1 issues occurred but loss of life/ship did not • Negotiable • Identified risks could later be waived
Known Potential Problems • O-rings were “Criticality 1” feature • O-ring seal failure on previous missions • Launch Constraint placed on subsequent launches • These constraints had been imposed and regularly waived by the SRB Project Manager • Very low ambient temperatures recognized as concern by Tiokol • O-ring performance at this temperature not understood • NASA officials pressured Tiokol to withdraw its concerns • Upper officials at NASA were unaware of these discussions and ignorantly approved launch