Factory Accident Damages NOAA Spacecraft

By JASON BATES

Space News Staff Writer

WASHINGTON – A spacecraft being built for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was damaged Sept. 6 in a factory floor accident at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, Calif.

The NOAA-N Prime satellite was being rotated from vertical to horizontal on a device known as the "turn over cart" when it slipped off the cart, "causing severe damage," according to an anomaly report sent to NASA and NOAA officials.

Buddy Nelson, a Lockheed Martin spokesman, said the extent of the damage has not yet been determined.

The satellite has not been moved and engineers are discharging the batteries, which was scheduled to be completed Sept. 8, Nelson said. Engineers have placed a protective shield between NOAA-N Prime and the NOAA-N spacecraft, which is located in the same bay, he said.

According to the anomaly report, the initial assessment of the cause of the accident is that 24 bolts were missing from the cart when technicians went to move the satellite to the horizontal position. Engineers working on another satellite program that uses a similar cart removed the bolts from the NOAA-N Prime cart Sept. 4 without documenting their actions, according to the report.

"At this point in the investigation, we are looking into whether procedures were followed as written," Nelson said.

NOAA-N Prime is scheduled for a 2008 launch. "It’s clear there is some damage, but we have to determine what kind and the kind of rework that will be needed to bring spacecraft back into a situation which would make it fit to fly," Nelson said.

Cynthia O’Carroll, a spokeswoman at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., deferred all comments to Lockheed Martin.