Nasa wins payout over faulty parts

Nasa was sold faulty rocket parts that caused two satellite launch missions to fail, causing more than US$700 million ($1 billion) in losses and years of work to be lost, an investigation by the space agency concluded.

Its Taurus XL rocket was intended to deliver satellites studying the Earth’s climate during missions in 2009 and 2011 but its clamshell-like nose structure failed to open and plummeted into the ocean on both occasions.

The cause of the failures left engineers puzzled for years but Nasa released its most detailed account of the failures this week, blaming bad parts purchased from a US metals supplier whose staff faked results about the equipment’s ability to cope in space.

Nasa said Sapa Profiles falsified thousands of certifications for aluminium parts from 1996 to 2015, during which time they were supplied to hundreds of customers, including Nasa.

“When testing results are altered and certifications are provided falsely, missions fail,” said Jim Norman, head of launch services at Nasa in Washington.

The company has admitted that employees faked tests results assessing the metal’s strength and reliability under pressure.

Norsk Hydro ASA, Sapa’s parent company, last week agreed to pay US$46m to Nasa, the Department of Defence and others to resolve criminal charges and civil claims related to the fraud.

A Department of Justice spokesman said: “Corporate and personal greed perpetuated this fraud and this resolution holds these companies accountable.”

Sapa Profiles, now known as Hydro Extrusion Portland, also agreed to plead guilty to one count of mail fraud and has been banned from US federal government contracting.

A spokesman for Norsk Hydro said the company had invested “significant time and resources to completely overhaul our quality and compliance organisations”.