What is 'PowerPoint slide announcement that killed 7 people'?
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The Columbia aerial disassembly accident that occurred on February 1, 2003 was an accident that caused aerial disassembly when the American space shuttle ' Columbia ' re-entered the atmosphere, killing seven astronauts. .. It seems that there was a certain 'PowerPoint slide announcement' in the background of the accident of the Columbia issue, and Mr. James Thomas , a doctor and educator, explains the slide.
Death by PowerPoint: the slide that killed seven people — mcdreeamie-musings
https://mcdreeamiemusings.com/new-blog/2019/4/13/gsux1h6bnt8lqjd7w2t2mtvfg81uhx
Presentations using PowerPoint slides are made in various situations such as work meetings and research presentations. Usually, a failed slide presentation only loses viewer interest, but in the past, 'there were slide presentations that killed as many as seven astronauts,' Thomas said. Says. It was a slide announcement by Boeing , a major aerospace development company, before the aerial disassembly accident of the Columbia.
The Columbia was launched on January 16, 2003, and carried out a scientific experimental mission ( STS-107 ) on the effects of microgravity on spiders and ants. The launch itself was successful, and 80 experiments were successfully carried out during the 15-day space flight, but aerial disassembly occurred during the re-entry on February 1, killing all crew members.
It is believed that the cause was that the foam insulation of the external fuel tank peeled off 82 seconds after the launch and hit the heat-resistant protective panel of the left wing directly. The fact that the heat insulating material collided with the left wing was found by the camera image the day after the launch, but it was not possible to confirm the damage to the left wing from the earth. The insulation peeling itself was confirmed in past launches, so it wasn't much of a problem, but how much damage was given to the heat-resistant protective panel that protects the wings from the heat of re-entry into the atmosphere is considered a problem. I did.
So NASA officials met with Boeing engineers to see if the Columbia damage was dangerous. Boeing engineers prepared 28 PowerPoint slides and presented the analysis results based on the data taken in the past.
'The actual Columbia is at considerable risk,' the engineers said, as the historical data analyzed by the engineers was obtained from a thermal insulation collision that was 600 times smaller than the one stripped from the Columbia. I was aware. However, while the engineers felt that they were 'sufficiently able to convey the potential risks,' NASA officials said, 'I don't know the engineers, but the data show that the crew's lives. There seems to be no danger of threatening. '
This discrepancy caused the Columbia to re-enter the atmosphere as originally planned, killing seven people. If NASA was able to recognize the danger firmly, it might have been possible to rescue it with the Space Shuttle
The question was, 'Why did NASA re-enter when the data submitted by Boeing engineers was obtained at a much smaller collision scale than it really is?' have become. Professor
The image below is a slide from a Boeing engineer showing data from a collision that is 600 times smaller than it really is. The part surrounded by the red line is the title of the slide, but it is 'Review of Test Data Indicates Conservatism for Tile Penetration', and at first glance the heat resistant tile is a heat insulating material. It is misleading to be able to withstand the impact of. Takht said the title, displayed in the largest font in the center of the slide, was one of the causes of the loss of what Boeing engineers really wanted to convey.
In addition, the slides have a hierarchical structure with bullet points, and the font size is gradually becoming smaller. This format unknowingly rubs the importance of the content into the audience and makes them feel less important as they go down, but in reality the most important content was placed at the bottom of the slide. ..
Professor Takht-e pointed out that the ambiguous writing style, such as the mixture of the words 'SOFI' and 'ramp' for heat insulating materials, is also a problem. And with more than 100 words displayed on the slide, the important part that 'test data is far from the actual conditions' is at the bottom, so the audience can reach the important part. He states that it was difficult.
NASA's report after the accident criticized that the human side as well as the technical side caused the accident. Excessive reliance on PowerPoint at NASA has led to discrepancies in technical communication, resulting in serious accidents.
'Imagine if an engineer made a slide with just the words'insulation collided more than 600 times the size of the test data'. I'm sure NASA will re-enter the Columbia without any action. 'It wouldn't have happened,' said Thomas, arguing that you should be careful not to lose important information when creating slides in PowerPoint.
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