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I can't say about NASA, but I can say about my experience at ESA (European Space Agency), where I worked on Mars lander hardware. You have very very formal proc

I can't say about NASA, but I can say about my experience at ESA (European Space Agency), where I worked on Mars lander hardware. You have very very formal procedures and detailed checks as soon as you approach any parts which is going to fly. The simplest task you can imagine takes incredible proportions (for good reasons). Disconnect and reconnect that plug? Please inform persons X and Y, person Z must be present, only person W can touch that plug, and do perform a functional test according to the procedure in this document before and after and file these reports etc ... Cleaning a part? Oh glob. Get ready for 3 months of adventure talking to planetary protection experts and book the cleanest room in the continent.

Dioxide2119 3y ago
The Hacker News mic drop strikes again. I have nothing super substantive to add except to agree with your point and add that yes, it feels like work to put in the formal policies and procedures, but when the stakes are high enough (rocket to mars? its high enough), even the work that doesn't intuitively feel 'worth it' to someone is DEFINITELY worth it. "It's a waste of time" is very often a fallacy, especially when the risk cannot be easily undone. I (mostly mentally) complete the phrase "It's a waste of time" with "what's the worst that could happen?", and when I'm actually saying the phrase out loud, stare at whoever said that for 5 full seconds.
- astrolx 3y ago
  Exactly :). The funny part is, the thing actually crashed! [1] Why? Bad error handling in the software (primarily). What is the worst that could happen? An instrument saturate, a variable gets stuck at a value, but keeps being integrated, the spacecraft computes a negative altitude and thinks it'a below ground level (negative altitude) but is in fact in full descent and at 3+ km from the surface. Oopsie ! [1] https://exploration.esa.int/web/mars/-/59176-exomars-2016-schiaparelli-anomaly-inquiry https://exploration.esa.int/web/mars/-/59176-exomars-2016-sc...
zilti 3y ago
And we all know how reliable ESA landers are. The laughing stock of the industry.

Dioxide2119 3y ago

The Hacker News mic drop strikes again. I have nothing super substantive to add except to agree with your point and add that yes, it feels like work to put in the formal policies and procedures, but when the stakes are high enough (rocket to mars? its high enough), even the work that doesn't intuitively feel 'worth it' to someone is DEFINITELY worth it. "It's a waste of time" is very often a fallacy, especially when the risk cannot be easily undone. I (mostly mentally) complete the phrase "It's a waste of time" with "what's the worst that could happen?", and when I'm actually saying the phrase out loud, stare at whoever said that for 5 full seconds.

astrolx 3y ago
Exactly :). The funny part is, the thing actually crashed! [1] Why? Bad error handling in the software (primarily). What is the worst that could happen? An instrument saturate, a variable gets stuck at a value, but keeps being integrated, the spacecraft computes a negative altitude and thinks it'a below ground level (negative altitude) but is in fact in full descent and at 3+ km from the surface. Oopsie ! [1] https://exploration.esa.int/web/mars/-/59176-exomars-2016-schiaparelli-anomaly-inquiry https://exploration.esa.int/web/mars/-/59176-exomars-2016-sc...

zilti 3y ago

And we all know how reliable ESA landers are. The laughing stock of the industry.