On October 19th, Aerospace News reported that NASA is continuing to provide strong support for Boeing as it strives to solve the valve issue that will push the official flight mission of its CST-100 "StarCraft" commercial manned spacecraft to 2023.

NASA and Boeing officials introduced the progress of the investigation into the stuck valves in the propulsion system of the "StarCraft" during a press conference call on October 19th. This issue led to the cancellation of a launch attempt in early August and ultimately forced Boeing to remove the spacecraft from the Space God 5 rocket, resulting in an indefinite delay in the flight codenamed "Orbital Test Flight" (OFT) 2.

Boeing officials essentially repeated previous statements about the valve issue, including the belief that the main cause was the permeation of nitrous oxide through the PTFE seal of the valve, which reacted with moisture on the other side to form nitric acid, corroding the valve and causing it to get stuck in the closed position.

Technicians have removed two of the valves from the ship and are working on dismantling the third one. Those valves will be sent to NASA Marshall Space Flight Center for detailed research, including CT scans. Some valves similar to those used on board are currently being tested at NASA's White Sands testing facility in New Mexico. This facility has experience in handling self igniting propellants.

Parker, Vice President and Chief Engineer of Aerospace and Launch Engineering at Boeing, said at a press conference that the moisture reacting with nitrous oxide is likely to be the "normal ambient humidity" in the Florida area.

Another factor may be the duration of storage of nitrous oxide inside the ship. The storage time for this time is 46 days, while the initial unmanned test flight mission of OFT without valve problems was 35 days. However, the spacecraft is designed to allow nitrous oxide to be stored inside the ship for up to 60 days before launch. We didn't expect any problems, "said Walmer, Vice President and Program Manager in charge of Boeing's commercial manned transportation program.

While the investigation is still ongoing, Boeing is already researching potential solutions. Volmer said, 'The basic design is still reasonable,' but it needs to be studied whether 'small changes need to be made to the design' and whether 'more blowing should be done to ensure there is no moisture.'. Technicians have added desiccants to the ventilation holes near the valve to prevent moisture from coming into contact with the valve. Parker said that Boeing is still considering installing heaters on valves to remove corrosion products that may form on them. The relevant design review is scheduled to take place in the coming days.

NASA's commercial manned transport program manager Steve said that the experiment conducted in White Sands will expose the valves to the same environmental conditions as Florida, including high humidity. He said, 'We will strive to reproduce the specific situation experienced by the valve,' measuring the development of corrosion and the difficulty of valve opening and closing.

As stated in a recent interview, Boeing officials have stated that they are seeking opportunities to conduct the OFT-2 mission in the first half of next year. The specific launch date will depend on the progress of investigation and spacecraft repair work, as well as the availability of rockets and the occupancy of interfaces on the International Space Station.

If the OFT-2 mission can really be conducted before the middle of next year, Boeing still has hope to carry out the manned maiden flight codenamed "Crew Test Flight" (CFT) before the end of next year. Volmer said, 'We hope to see a six-month flight interval.'; While investigating the valve issue, we are also actively preparing for the CFT mission spacecraft.

The issue with the 'interstellar passenger plane' has left Boeing far behind space exploration companies in its commercial manned transport program. The third official flight mission of the space exploration company's "Crew Dragon" spacecraft, codenamed "Crew 3", aimed at NASA, will be launched on October 31st. Next year, "Crew 4" and "Crew 5" missions will also be carried out. The progress of this series of missions means that the initial contract signed between the space exploration company and NASA, which includes six official missions (also known as "certified" missions), is about to be completed. As the International Space Station is expected to last until the end of this decade, Stitch stated that NASA is working on purchasing more flights.

Stitch said that once Boeing completes its test flights and passes the qualification certification for officially undertaking personnel rotation tasks, NASA is likely to have the two companies take turns on duty, with each company flying once a year. He also reiterated his confidence that the issue of the 'interstellar plane' would be resolved. He said, 'We have full confidence that Boeing will soon carry out human transport missions.'; I have no reason to believe that Boeing will not succeed.

Boeing took out $410 million from its earnings in January last year to carry out the OFT-2 mission at its own expense. The company has not yet disclosed how much money it has spent on this task, including repair work. Volmer confirmed that Boeing is bearing all the costs of the spacecraft investigation and repair work on its own, stating that "NASA will not be held responsible for those costs". He refused to comment on how this work would affect Boeing's profitability on the project. He said, 'I want to say that we are 100% committed to fulfilling our contract with the government. We plan to do so.'.

Source: Hang Xiaoyu