http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/s ... OPPED0.htm
Broken satellite back on schedule, company overhauls procedures
BY CHRIS KRIDLER
FLORIDA TODAY
A year after a crucial weather satellite crashed to the floor of a Lockheed Martin plant, a NASA report blamed the failure to follow procedures partly on complacency and poor communications.
Meanwhile, NOAA, NASA and Lockheed Martin announced Monday the satellite will be rebuilt and sent into orbit by its previously scheduled launch date, heading off a potential gap in weather-forecasting coverage.
Lockheed Martin has overhauled procedures to prevent another accident such as the one that occurred at the plant in Sunnyvale, Calif., in September 2003, spokesman Buddy Nelson said Tuesday.
"The evidence of our success is that our NASA/NOAA customer asked us to rebuild the NOAA N Prime satellite," he said.
Lockheed Martin will help pay for the reconstruction, according to NOAA.
NOAA N Prime, worth about $200 million, fell off its cart during a rotation maneuver because several bolts that should have held it in place were missing. A supervisor assumed they were there, based on paperwork, but didn't inspect the cart as required, the report said.
"The Technician Supervisor even commented that there were empty bolt holes," the NASA mishap report said. "(T)he rest of the team and the RTE (Responsible Test Engineer) in particular dismissed the comment and did not pursue the issue further."
Government oversight also was lax, the report found.
Nelson said a company investigation team also found that workers failed to follow written procedures. The team made recommendations to address the "lack of process discipline."
Lockheed Martin followed the recommendations of outside experts and NASA's mishap investigation board, and audits have verified the problems were corrected, he said.
The rebuilt satellite is expected to launch in December 2007, close to the previous launch date.
N Prime is to replace a satellite in polar orbit. It will provide data for weather and climate forecasts, as well as backup for military operations and information for search-and-rescue missions.
A new generation of satellites will take over the functions of civilian and military weather satellites. Called the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, it will begin launching in late 2009, NOAA spokesman John Leslie said.
The rebuilding plan for N Prime calls for new structural elements and the replacement of some parts, Nelson said.
"The N Prime satellite was not a total loss," he said. "Seventy-five percent of the bus components either had available spares or were not installed on the satellite at the time of the accident."
Contact Kridler at 242-3633 or ckridler@flatoday.net
New NOAA Satellite crashes to floor
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