Technician made simple error on NASA satellite that ended up costing $135,000,000
NASA hired Lockheed Martin to construct the NOAA N-Prime weather satellite back in 2003
Joe Yates
Whether you're unboxing your TV, carrying a tray of drinks or carting a $233 million satellite, you do so with extreme caution.
If you dropped your TV in the process of hanging it on the wall you'd probably feel like crying, dropping a tray of drinks is also gutting, but millions of dollars' worth of high-tech equipment?
Well, an outsourced technician from a company hired by NASA and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) accidentally did just that.
Lockheed Martin Corporation, a Maryland-based defense and aerospace manufacturer, was hired to construct the NOAA N-Prime weather satellite back in 2003.
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And with the incident taking place over two decades ago, the piece of tech would cost more than $400 million in line with inflation today.
The accident occurred when the satellite was being moved from a vertical to horizontal position and accidentally fell a meter onto a concrete surface.
An investigation into the matter was carried out after the costly mistake and revealed it was a very minor thing that caused the catastrophic damage.
It was reported at the time that the physical damage caused was a result of the satellite missing just 24 bolts.
The bolts were needed to secure the spacecraft to a device called the Turn-Over Cart (TOC).
A report from NASA stated: "The bolts were removed from the TOC by another project while the cart was in a common staging area, an activity which was not communicated to the NOAA project team."
Thankfully, no one was injured, but the satellite was in ruins.
Of course, the bill was handed to Lockheed Martin, which actually had to forfeit any profits it had already earned or was going to earn in order to pay for the damages, while the US government forked out for the rest.
"And I hope George W. Bush was sitting down when he received the news as they had to pay a staggering $135 million," NASA spokesperson Dave Steitz said at the time, as per Space.com.
At least 15 percent of the satellite needed replacing afterwards, Steitz and Lockheed Martin spokesperson Buddy Nelson confirmed.
He said in a statement at the time: "Lockheed Martin has voluntarily contributed to the rebuild effort all profit previously earned and paid on the contract.
"The company will undertake the completion of the N-Prime satellite bus on a cost-only basis, forgoing all profits that otherwise might have accrued to Lockheed Martin for this spacecraft bus."
The launch of the satellite was pushed back to December 2007, but it wasn't launched until February 2009.
The NOAA-19, the name is was later given, marked the last of the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's series of weather satellites.