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Why can't they deorbit Starliner and let it land in the ocean without the astronauts ???. If nothing happens then great rather than killing off the entire prog
by tibbydudeza 2y ago
Why can't they deorbit Starliner and let it land in the ocean without the astronauts ???.
If nothing happens then great rather than killing off the entire program with fatalities.
I know the flight control software is not designed for this but surely somebody must have thought of this scenario ???.
- __d 2y agoThey probably can. NASA is worried about the thruster issue meaning that they lose control of the vehicle as it undocks and moves away from the ISS, leading to a collision. I guess that's independent of crew being on board. But also ... the current Starliner software doesn't support an automated (uncrewed) undock. The previous one did, but some code and/or configuration changes are required to enable this on the current vehicle. NASA has said that making the changes to enable this will take about a month (including QA).
- e_y_ 2y agoIn the press conference, they said the collision risk can be avoided by undocking the Starliner and then letting it float away to a safe distance before starting up the thrusters.
- smallerize 2y agoBoeing deleted that part of the firmware and it will take months to reload it. https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/08/nasa-likely-to-significantly-delay-the-launch-of-crew-9-due-to-starliner-issues/ https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/08/nasa-likely-to-signifi...