Early Orbit Space Vehicle Failures - Lessons

Abstract

This research aimed at finding Early Orbit Failures and learning lessons from them. The work was sponsored by the European Space Agency. Almost 900 failures and anomalies have been identified. Power, TTC, Propulsion subsystems seem to be improving; AOCS, Mechanisms, Communication Payloads seem to be getting worse. The most devastating failure types continue to be deployments - this is an enduring problem which causes maximum loss and is still not solved. A different approach is recommended.There is a large number of negligible-effect anomalies, but a worrying proportion which cause up to 25% loss - typically part of a payload is lost. Where causes are identifiable, human factors are in evidence - arising from poor decision making under cost/schedule pressure. Some recommendations to avoid this "project" problem are proposed.