NASA says metals fraud caused $700mil satelite loss

[thewayne]

A company in Oregon provided fraudulent metal test reports, resulting in the failure of a fairing which didn't fully open. Two satellites were unable to deploy in orbit in two launches in 2009 and 2011, a loss of $700,000,000. The company has settled with NASA for $46mil, which makes no sense to me in relation to the cost of the loss of the satellites, and is barred from future U.S. federal contracts.

The fraud stretched from 1996 to 2015!

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-01/nasa-says-aluminum-fraud-caused-700-million-satellite-failures