WASHINGTON - NASA officials
are dealing with a growing problem of unknowingly buying improperly certified
or outright bogus spacecraft parts, the agency's chief said Thursday.
A recent case involved
titanium for the Kepler spacecraft, set
to launch tonight from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The titanium had
been falsely certified by a supplier as having met government standards, NASA
spokesman J.D. Harrington said.
"The piece we were
specifically concerned with was Kepler's spider hub assembly," Harrington
said. "If defective, the mission would be a total loss. After several
weeks of material analysis, we found the titanium to be well within the required
performance parameters."
NASA's acting
administrator, Christopher
Scolese, told the House Science and Technology Subcommittee on Space and
Aeronautics that the issue of falsely certified parts is "becoming a
bigger problem for us."
"We find out about it
while sitting atop a rocket, or worse, find out about it in space,"
Scolese said.
NASA learned about the
titanium problem in December.
Harrington said officials
also reviewed the titanium used on the Delta 2 rocket that
will carry Kepler. That issue was cleared.
Scolese said fraudulently
tested parts is a growing problem for the entire industry.
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