Leaking gaskets on the moon? Madonna!
Plus Punchestown Day 2
Historically, Italian cars have been viewed as less reliable than their Japanese or German counterparts. Perhaps because of the perceived “Passion vs. Precision” trade-off, where Italian engineers are thought to prioritise speed, beauty, and “soul” over the rigorous, sometimes clinical, testing seen in Japanese manufacturing. Perhaps it’s the historical reputation of brands like Fiat and Alfa Romeo, which famously struggled with complex and often failing electrical systems throughout the 1970s and 80s. (Who can forget the derogatory acronym “Fix It Again, Tony” (FIAT).
I only mention this en passant because I was struck by the irony in my weekly copy of the Minutes from the US House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. As House members with vested interests often do, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Virginia, asked NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman about a recent and very costly cancellation of the Lunar Gateway project. His district includes major elements of Northrop Grumman, the primary contractor for the HALO module (basically a very expensive cabin and office in space). “Do you know what will happen to that large investment that was made?” This was essentially because Northrop is pushing to repurpose the HALO kit for the lunar surface rather than for floating above the moon. Isaacman replied: “I appreciate the contributions and look forward to working with them on how we could potentially repurpose hardware to surface applications. But he then confirmed the recent rumours that the delays were due to the discovery of corrosion in both the HALO and I-HAB modules of the Gateway!
“The only two habitable volumes that were delivered—both were corroded,” Isaacman said. “And that’s unfortunate because it would have delayed, probably beyond 2030, the application of Gateway.”
Northrop later issued a statement as the word spread, using the phrase “manufacturing irregularity”, which kicked this significant issue down the road to the actual manufacturer, the Franco-Italian space and defence company Thales Alenia Space, which built the primary structure of HALO for Northrop Grumman. The module was delivered from Italy to the United States about a year ago. Thales is a powerhouse of the European space industry. It built several pressurised modules of the International Space Station, and it’s working with Axiom Space to build its commercial space station. The company also had a major role in the Lunar Gateway, in addition to HALO, developing the I-HAB module and a future communications and refuelling module known as ESPRIT. When the contract was announced, Massimo Claudio Comparini, a senior official, said in 2020, “Through these contracts, Thales Alenia Space will call on the full sum of our expertise to expand our knowledge base and push back the frontiers of the cislunar exploration.”
Italian car-lovers are no strangers to corrosion, but fixing HALO, along with its equally rusty sibling I-HAB, has blown up NASA’s already-threatened budget. Repairs mean new materials and delays, which drive up the project’s price by hundreds of millions in “remediation” costs and “schedule adjustments.” Every day with the Hammerite pushes the Artemis mission further into the future.
Talking of reliability issues and budgets gone awry… Day 2 of Punchestown arrives…
