When NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory and Glory missions failed in 2009 and 2011, respectively, the space agency attributed the failure to a malfunction of Orbital ATK's Taurus XL launch vehicle.
After this, specialists from the manufacturing company and NASA worked on improving the rocket fairing, but, as it now turns out, the reason was not at all due to its design flaws.
An investigation by NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP) found that the cause was faulty aluminum parts supplied by Sapa Profiles in Oregon.
The investigation uncovered a 19-year fraud scheme developed by aluminum profile manufacturer Sapa Profiles, which targeted Orbital ATK.
LSP, along with NASA's Office of Inspector General (NASA OIG) and the U.S. Department of Justice, discovered that Sapa Profiles had falsified critical test results on supplied aluminum for 19 years. Sapa Profiles employees provided false product certificates to customers, including government contractors. The company's own motive was the pursuit of profit, as well as the need to hide the inconsistent quality of its aluminum products, while its employees were rewarded with production bonuses for meeting deliveries.
As a result of the investigation, Hydro Extrusion Portland, Inc., formerly known as Sapa Profiles, will be forced to pay a fine of $46 million to NASA, the US Department of Justice and other organizations.
That's far less than the $700 million NASA lost in mission failures, but at least authorities were able to hold SPI accountable for its actions. Additionally, on September 30, 2015, Sapa Profiles/Hydro Extrusion was suspended from government contracting and will no longer be able to do business with the federal government.
Source: 3dnews.ru