Published Date: 2019-12-22
| Postmortem Analysis | |
|---|---|
| Timeline | 1. The software failure incident with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft happened on December 22, 2019, as reported in Article 93233. |
| System | The software failure incident in the reported article involved the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. The specific system that failed was the faulty software that forced officials to cut short the unmanned mission aimed at taking the spacecraft to the International Space Station [93233]. Therefore, the system that failed in this software failure incident was: 1. Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft's software [93233]. |
| Responsible Organization | 1. Boeing Co - The faulty software that forced officials to cut short the unmanned mission of the Starliner spacecraft was attributed to Boeing Co [93233]. |
| Impacted Organization | 1. NASA was impacted by the software failure incident as the Starliner spacecraft, designed to help NASA regain its human spaceflight capabilities, failed to dock to the International Space Station [93233]. |
| Software Causes | 1. The software failure incident in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft was caused by faulty software that forced officials to cut short the unmanned mission aimed at taking it to the International Space Station [93233]. |
| Non-software Causes | 1. The faulty software that forced officials to cut short the unmanned mission aimed at taking the Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station [Article 93233]. |
| Impacts | 1. The software failure incident forced officials to cut short an unmanned mission aimed at taking the Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station, impacting the completion of the core objective of docking to the space station [Article 93233]. |
| Preventions | 1. Thorough software testing and validation procedures prior to the mission launch could have potentially prevented the software failure incident [93233]. |
| Fixes | 1. Conduct a thorough review and revision of the faulty software to address the issues that caused the failure incident [93233]. | References | 1. Boeing Co 2. NASA 3. White Sands desert 4. International Space Station 5. Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station 6. Reuters 7. Sonya Hepinstall 8. Frances Kerry 9. Cory Huston 10. United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket 11. Vertical Integration Facility 12. Florida 13. New Mexico 14. Earth's surface 15. The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles 16. The article itself [93233] |
| Category | Option | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Recurring | one_organization | (a) The software failure incident related to Boeing's Starliner spacecraft landing in the New Mexico desert due to faulty software is an example of a software failure happening again within the same organization. This incident marks a setback for Boeing in its efforts to regain human spaceflight capabilities for NASA, showcasing a recurring issue with the software used in their spacecraft [93233]. |
| Phase (Design/Operation) | design | (a) The software failure incident in the article is related to the design phase. The incident was caused by faulty software that forced officials to cut short an unmanned mission aimed at taking the Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station. The article mentions that the mission failed to meet its core objective of docking to the space station due to the software issue [93233]. (b) There is no specific information in the article indicating that the software failure incident was related to the operation phase. |
| Boundary (Internal/External) | within_system | The software failure incident related to the Boeing Starliner spacecraft can be categorized as within_system. The article mentions that the spacecraft's faulty software forced officials to cut short the mission aimed at docking with the International Space Station. This indicates that the failure originated from within the system itself, specifically related to the software controlling the spacecraft's operations [93233]. |
| Nature (Human/Non-human) | non-human_actions | (a) The software failure incident in the article was due to non-human actions. The article mentions that faulty software forced officials to cut short the unmanned mission of the Starliner spacecraft, which was aimed at taking it to the International Space Station. The failure was related to the software not meeting its core objective of docking to the space station, leading to the spacecraft landing in the New Mexico desert [93233]. |
| Dimension (Hardware/Software) | software | (a) The software failure incident in the article is related to a faulty software that forced officials to cut short the unmanned mission of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft aimed at the International Space Station. This indicates a failure originating in the software itself [93233]. |
| Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) | non-malicious | (a) The software failure incident related to the Boeing Starliner spacecraft was non-malicious. The incident was caused by faulty software that forced officials to cut short the unmanned mission aimed at taking the spacecraft to the International Space Station. The core objective of docking to the space station was not met due to the software issue [93233]. |
| Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) | poor_decisions, accidental_decisions | The software failure incident related to the Boeing Starliner spacecraft was due to a combination of poor decisions and accidental decisions. The article mentions that faulty software forced officials to cut short the unmanned mission, indicating a failure due to poor decisions in the software development process [93233]. Additionally, the article highlights that the mission failed to meet its core objective of docking to the space station, suggesting a failure possibly caused by accidental decisions or mistakes in the software implementation or testing phase. |
| Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) | accidental | The software failure incident related to the Boeing Starliner spacecraft was primarily attributed to an accidental factor rather than development incompetence. The incident was caused by faulty software, which led to the mission being cut short and the spacecraft landing in the New Mexico desert instead of docking at the International Space Station [93233]. The article does not mention any specific details indicating development incompetence as the root cause of the software failure. |
| Duration | temporary | The software failure incident related to the Boeing Starliner spacecraft was temporary. The incident was caused by faulty software that forced officials to cut short the unmanned mission to the International Space Station [93233]. |
| Behaviour | crash | (a) The software failure incident in this case can be categorized as a crash. The article mentions that the Starliner spacecraft had to land in the New Mexico desert after faulty software forced officials to cut short the mission, which was aimed at taking it to the International Space Station. The failure resulted in the spacecraft not being able to meet its core objective of docking to the space station, indicating a loss of state and failure to perform its intended functions [Article 93233]. |
| Layer | Option | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Perception | processing_unit | The software failure incident related to the Boeing Starliner spacecraft mentioned in Article 93233 was primarily attributed to a processing_unit error. The article states that "faulty software forced officials to cut short an unmanned mission" and that the mission failed to meet its core objective of docking to the space station. This indicates that the failure was related to the processing_unit of the cyber physical system, specifically the software controlling the spacecraft's operations. No specific mention was made of sensor, actuator, network communication, or embedded software errors in the provided article. |
| Communication | unknown | The software failure incident related to the Boeing Starliner spacecraft was not specifically attributed to the communication layer of the cyber-physical system. The article mentions that the failure was due to faulty software, which forced officials to cut short the unmanned mission aimed at taking the spacecraft to the International Space Station. The focus was on the software issue rather than a communication layer problem [93233]. |
| Application | TRUE | The software failure incident involving Boeing's Starliner spacecraft was indeed related to the application layer of the cyber physical system. The article mentions that "faulty software forced officials to cut short an unmanned mission" and that the spacecraft failed to meet its core objective of docking to the space station due to software issues [93233]. This aligns with the definition of an application layer failure caused by bugs and errors in the software. |
| Category | Option | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Consequence | delay, non-human | The consequence of the software failure incident in the reported article was a delay in the mission's core objective of docking to the International Space Station. The faulty software led to the mission being cut short, preventing the Starliner spacecraft from achieving its intended goal of docking to the space station [93233]. |
| Domain | transportation, knowledge | The failed system in the reported incident was related to the (i) knowledge industry, specifically space exploration. The software failure incident involved Boeing Co's Starliner astronaut spacecraft, which was designed to help NASA regain its human spaceflight capabilities by transporting astronauts to the International Space Station [Article 93233]. |
Article ID: 93233