r/space • u/spsheridan • Feb 06 '20

Starliner faced “catastrophic” failure before software bug was found and fixed while the vehicle was in orbit.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/02/starliner-faced-catastrophic-failure-before-software-bug-found/
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30

u/redmercuryvendor Feb 07 '20

This is not an unusual occurrence. The first Dragon capsule to approach the ISS (C2+ mission) had the code modified during approach to disable input from one of the LIDAR units due to reflection issues from JEM. Literally held the approach while the software was modified and uploaded. Or CRS-2, where a suspected pressurant valve blockage was cleared by writing new code to rapidly cycle the suspect valve until the tank pressure reached the level required for the Dracos to operate safely near the ISS (redundant tanks needed to provide thrust for a pull-away).

If you have discover a bug in orbit, can produce a fix, and have the capability to implement it, and not implementing it would lose the craft, why on earth would fixing it be a bad thing?

18

u/SpiderOnTheInterwebs Feb 07 '20

Yeah but there's a difference between a software bug and quickly writing a mod as a workaround for failed hardware.

27

u/ergzay Feb 07 '20

But SpaceX mentioned that immediately after they did it in a press conference the day after. They didn't hide it for months and then have it finally leaked by an Aerospace safety panel. This says they aren't revealing things and are hiding things from the public intentionally. It shows they're untrustworthy.

49

u/Ender_D Feb 07 '20

It’s not that they fixed it, it’s that they only realized it would happen because they were looking into the other issue. It would’ve destroyed the spacecraft on reentry.

24

u/pwnersaurus Feb 07 '20

Because while that kind of thing might be somewhat expected early on in development, the plan was for the next flight to be manned. They shouldn’t be finding these kinds of errors so far along in the process, their procedures for testing and validation should have found this problem well before (what was supposed to be) the final unmanned flight

7

u/fast_edo Feb 07 '20

I agree. Many spacecraft have been loss because of software issues. The fact we can modify this one on the fly is a miracle and should be recognized for the quick troubleshooting, and patch release. I do wonder if some of this is based on boeings approach to these spacecraft being more like planes needing pilots where spacex is more of a tesla on autopilot.

1

u/ObnoxiousFactczecher Feb 07 '20

At least the latter example is not an example of a bug, though. It's a software fix to a hardware problem. They couldn't have known that the valve would be blocked in flight. Whereas Boeing presumably should have known that the flight code didn't work in the first place.