Boeing sued for intellectual property theft related to NASA’s Artemis moon rocket

The lawsuit alleges that Boeing’s improper use of stolen technology endangered the lives of the astronauts and resulted in sustained delays in SLS launches. A federal lawsuit has been filed against Boeing, accusing the aerospace giant of intellectual property (IP) theft, conspiracy and misappropriation of critical components involved in the assembly of NASA’s Artemis moon rocket.

The complaint was filed in federal court in Seattle, Washington on Wednesday, June 7, and alleged Boeing’s attempt to copy technology from Colorado-based Wilson Aerospace was the source of leaks from the International Space Station (ISS) and last year’s leaks. information. Hydrogen leak during repeated attempts to fuel and launch NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for the Artemis 1 mission. The full complaint can be read here.

David Wilson Jr., president and founder of Wilson Aerospace. “Boeing has not only stolen our intellectual property and damaged our company’s reputation, but has also used technology inappropriately and in a way that is detrimental to astronaut safety, which is not vile.”

Family company Wilson Aerospace has been producing tools and components for NASA missions for nearly three decades, and also provides services for other major projects such as the Hubble Space Telescope, the ISS, multiple space shuttle missions, the Boeing Dreamliner and the Russian Mir spacecraft. . station — not to mention NASA’s SLS rocket for the agency’s Artemis program.

Wilson Aerospace said the agency signed a contract with Boeing in 2014 to provide the tools to install engines on the SLS, which is the backbone of the planned Artemis program of lunar missions. A press release by Wilson Aerospace attorneys alleges that Boeing obtained confidential information from the company before terminating their contract with Wilson and then producing its own versions of Wilson vehicles that were “critically lacking in quality and performance.”

Worse, the lawsuit found that several aerospace products manufactured by Boeing had critical safety flaws that were allegedly life-threatening, as Boeing secretly stole Wilson’s intellectual property without obtaining full instructions on how to properly build, install, and use it. claims. risky This applies to astronauts, pilots, crew members and passengers who board vehicles manufactured by Boeing without knowledge of dangerous equipment and vehicles manufactured by or at the behest of the aviation giant.

Fuel leaks and valve issues plagued the SLS throughout 2022, and Wilson’s complaint attributes directly to intellectual property theft, which he blames Boeing for. The complaint states, “Boeing’s stealing of intellectual property rights to vehicles to support Wilson’s SLS project resulted in non-compliance. Components developed by Wilson, along with components developed by Boeing and its partners, resulted in the use of inferior products to tighten fittings and valves.”

After four attempts to launch the SLS, on November 17, 2022, Artemis-1 completed a historic mission to and from the Moon. Despite the mission’s success, the Artemis program has faced accusations of mismanagement.

Wilson Aerospace’s complaint goes further than the SLS program. The company accuses Boeing of cheating and stealing competitors’ intellectual property with a “disturbing model” and cites examples of Boeing emulating Wilson’s flagship design, the Fluid Fitting Torque Device (FFTD). FFTD-1 for tightening fasteners on the Harmony module, the first American segment of the ISS.