The Mars Lander crashed because the scientists behind the mission were using both the metric system and the US system for measuring distances. So the spacecraft turned out to be much closer to Mars than thought (due to using kilometers as opposed to miles).
If you think you're 30 feet from a vehicle and you're actually 15 feet away, it might be too late to put on the brakes and you might crash.
NASA is a failure.
Wrong.
That was the Mars Climate Orbiter lost because of the conversion business. The Metric-English conversion problem had nothing to do with the loss of the Polar Lander, the subject of the article.
The whole program is a failure? Because of this one problem? Wow.
I guess we shouldn't try hard things, just in case we might make a mistake, huh?
I just wish we could send pictures back of the American flags planted in the martian soil.
Does this mean we get our tax money back, since promised services were not provided?
The photographs support the findings of an investigation panel that concluded that the deployment of the landing legs during descent had fooled the Polar Lander into thinking it had already touched the ground, leading it to shut off its engine while still about 130 feet in the air.
That explanation sounds like the sort of nonsense kids come up with when they are caught redhanded at something. Just wondering: how do you "fool" a machine?
I would say the opposite. To me NASA is a sense of great national pride. There is no doubt in my mind that NASA has the finest space programs in the world (robotic probes and man-in-space). One of the greatest achievements in the history of mankind was undertaken in a heroic fashion by this agency and yet you still question it's legitmacy?
It amazes me how many people would like to kill all science and exploration programs, living in the New World! Fortunately, smarter minds will keep the important exploration objectives of NASA alive. Bush was wise in deciding to have NASA plot a trip to Mars: it will change our world (for less than 1% of the US budget).
Keep in mind that every time you link to the NYSlimes website, hundreds here will click on the link and NYSlimes will make a lot of money off of banners displayed on their website
They made $300 million in profits last year, why help them make even more?
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