Re:Poop and Soda Bottles Threaten Air Force Rocket Program, ...
by gumby on Tuesday January 09, 2018 @03:13PM
(#16109543)
Not only can I imagine it I’ve lived it and I think it was great.
First: you are misstating the constraint: a procedure was defined by the manufacturer (in this case SpaceX) and they committed to the customer that they would use that procedure.
Second: in my case it was pharmaceutical manufacture and we were giving these drugs to patients for an approval study. We had defined a reproducible procedure that gave reproducible results. Deciding the change the procedure would require proving that the result of the change was the same as before said change. As a person who takes medication I am glad for GMP (the equivalent of ISO9000 in pharma manufacture).
In the case of an expensive rocket that launches something likely unrepairable after launch (and perhaps irreplaceable) I want to know that the mfr has figured out as many of the risk factors as possible and how to mitigate them.
First: you are misstating the constraint: a procedure was defined by the manufacturer (in this case SpaceX) and they committed to the customer that they would use that procedure.
Second: in my case it was pharmaceutical manufacture and we were giving these drugs to patients for an approval study. We had defined a reproducible procedure that gave reproducible results. Deciding the change the procedure would require proving that the result of the change was the same as before said change. As a person who takes medication I am glad for GMP (the equivalent of ISO9000 in pharma manufacture).
In the case of an expensive rocket that launches something likely unrepairable after launch (and perhaps irreplaceable) I want to know that the mfr has figured out as many of the risk factors as possible and how to mitigate them.