15-September 12:00 – 1:00pm
University of Auckland. 12pm. Lecture theatre 405-470.
* The Monday Midday seminar link to join Zoom meetings is:
https://auckland.zoom.us/j/98461140225
The Space Shuttle Challenger accident and the risks of human spaceflight
In this presentation, Eric Dahlstrom will describe the lessons from the Challenger accident, and the efforts to assess the risks of human spaceflight.
In 1986, Space Shuttle launches were seen as routine, with the Teacher in Space being the first of several planned citizen astronaut programs. But on 28 January 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven crew members aboard, including teacher Christa McAuliffe. The disaster was caused by the failure of O-ring seals in one of the solid rocket boosters, which allowed hot gases to escape and damage the external fuel tank. The launch proceeded despite concerns about the O-rings’ performance in the unusually cold weather that morning. The tragedy led to a suspension of the Shuttle program for nearly three years and safety reforms at NASA.
Several investigations of the accident were conducted, including the Presidential commission, Congressional investigations, and internal NASA investigations. Eric Dahlstrom worked on a NASA contract for a synthesis of these studies to produce the “Lessons Learned from Challenger” report, which, surprisingly, was suppressed by NASA. Eric also worked on a new probabilistic risk assessment of the risk of Space Shuttle failures to assess the risk of launching nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft. After a year of analysis, the risk of failure was assessed as 1 in 78 – a value which was also hidden by NASA. By coincidence, the Columbia accident happened 78 missions after Challenger.
Speaker Bio: Eric Dahlstrom CTO SpaceBase
Eric Dahlstrom is a space engineer, astronomer, and consultant from the US who has worked on spacecraft design and space science for more than 40 years, both for NASA and the commercial space industry. He studied physics, astronomy, and space systems engineering and is currently a member of the faculty of the International Space University, having taught in ten countries.
Mr. Dahlstrom worked for Lockheed Martin as a contractor on the design of the International Space Station for eight years at NASA Langley, where he analysed design issues involving all engineering systems, configuration options, user accommodations, flight attitude, communication systems, power systems, orbital debris, and orbital analysis, as well as performing preliminary design of the interface with Russian systems. He co-authored NASA’s “Lessons Learned from Challenger” report and the risk of Shuttle accidents. Mr. Dahlstrom has supported a dozen entrepreneurial space companies, served as project manager for commercial lunar spacecraft and payloads, and managed team projects at Singularity University and the International Space University.
Eric Dahlstrom is a co-founder of SpaceBase, a social enterprise focused on democratising space for everyone by co-creating space ecosystems in emerging countries, starting with New Zealand. In 2017, he joined the inaugural cohort of the Edmund Hillary Fellowship program in New Zealand.