Posted on 10/25/2016 9:41:38 AM PDT by BenLurkin
By all accounts the descent started well, with the lander decelerating rapidly as it brushed up against the Martian atmosphere, eventually deploying its parachute as planned. But things began to go squirrely just prior to the five-minute mark of the planned six-minute descent.
For reasons that are still a mystery, the lander ejected both its heat shield and parachute way ahead of schedule. Schiaparelli then engaged its thrusters for a painfully brief three-second burst—a procedure that was supposed to last for 30 seconds once the lander was just a few feet off the ground. The lander’s onboard computer, it would appear, seems to have thought it was close to the surface. Indeed, Schiaparelli even took the time to switch on some of its instruments, including tools to record the planet’s weather and electrical field.
The sad reality is that Schiaparelli was still somewhere between 1.25 to 2.5 miles above the surface when this happened, falling at a rate of about 185 mph (300 km/h). It struck the ground with tremendous force, resulting in an explosion—and a brand new surface feature.
ESA’s head of solar and planetary missions, Andrea Accomazzo, suspects a flaw in Schiaparelli’s software, or a problem in integrating the data coming from different sensors. Some kind of glitch misinformed the lander about its position in time and space, causing it to execute landing procedures as if it were at a much lower altitude.
If confirmed, this would actually be good news, as software issues are much easier to correct than hardware problems. Researchers on the ExoMars team are confident in the integrity of Schiaparelli’s hardware, and they’re now hoping to replicate the software error using a simulation.
... ExoMars planners don’t have much time, as the second and most prominent part of the mission is scheduled for 2020
(Excerpt) Read more at gizmodo.com ...
At it wasnt a self driving truck.
A real system crash.
Next time try Linux
Sounds exactly like another Mars crash: software mixed up feet vs meters, and the lander deduced it was on the surface when actually a couple miles up.
Probably should have done that beforehand...
still somewhere between 1.25 to 2.5 miles above the surface when this happened, falling at a rate of about 185 mph (300 km/h). It struck the ground with tremendous force, resulting in an explosion...
I thought they were talking about Obamacare.
Sounds like NASA/USA/DOD doesn’t want any competition on Mars.
“That’s not a bug, it’s a feature.”
“Next time try Linux”
Why, because magically everything on Linux can’t possible have bugs?
Heck, NEVER use Linux, there isn’t anywhere in space to get one patch after another or have a human configure, configure, configure, configure, configure, configure, configure, configure, configure, forever.
Blah Blah blah ...
The real story?
The Martians shot it down.
We all know it’s true.
Mars Climate Explorer.
$300 million gone in a millisecond.
Aliens make better hackers bump.
Software “error” causes Hillary to cheat.
“Sounds exactly like another Mars crash: software mixed up feet vs meters, and the lander deduced it was on the surface when actually a couple miles up.”
If we are to believe anything in this article (simply because it’s not DIRECTLY related to politics), at least one of the issues would seem to be a missing zero:
For reasons that are still a mystery, the lander ejected both its heat shield and parachute way ahead of schedule. Schiaparelli then engaged its thrusters for a painfully brief three-second burst—a procedure that was supposed to last for 30 seconds once the lander was just a few feet off the ground.
Calibration error? Someone’s math was off just a little bit.
Sigh.
Not enough testing and oversight.
There’s no excuse for this kind of failure.
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