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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter#Cause_of_failure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter#Cause_of_...
by dekhn 1y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter#Cause_of_failure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter#Cause_of_...
- userbinator 1y agoStill, NASA does not place the responsibility on Lockheed for the mission loss; instead, various officials at NASA have stated that NASA itself was at fault for failing to make the appropriate checks and tests that would have caught the discrepancy. The discrepancy between calculated and measured position, resulting in the discrepancy between desired and actual orbit insertion altitude, had been noticed earlier by at least two navigators, whose concerns were dismissed because they "did not follow the rules about filling out [the] form to document their concerns" Typical bureaucratic BS. Not surprised; what's surprising is that anything works in that sort of environment.
- pkaye 1y agoThis was during the "Faster, Better, Cheaper" era when staffing was cut and projects were being privatized and had to be done for cut rate costs. This video actually goes a lot into the details on what happened. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuYDkVRyMkg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuYDkVRyMkg The whole videos series of JPL and the Space Age is very enjoyable to watch. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTiv_XWHnOZqFnWQs393RhIMQoeCnwjhV https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTiv_XWHnOZqFnWQs393R...
- bad_username 1y agoExceptional documentary. Thanks for posting.
- hsbauauvhabzb 1y agoIf you take a step back the bureaucratic bs is actually that certain countries did and continue to use imperial measurements and nonsensical date formats.
- anthk 1y agoThe US using Imperial (British) units instead of the modern Metric ones it's a bit silly. We are using powers of ten daily. You just have to shift points in the scale.
- Mountain_Skies 1y agoSimilar thing happened in Georgia once busy Friday night when tons of bridge railing came smashing down onto the Interstate below. Given the traffic that time of day, it's a miracle no one was hurt, much less killed. Almost immediately the head of the DOT pleaded for the public to not blame the contractor who installed the railing. While it is important to do a root cause analysis, the DOT head should be mostly concerned about the people who could have been killed instead of the contractor. It was an incredibly tone-deaf moment.
- lazide 1y agoClassic sign of regulatory capture and/or corruption. Did they ever figure out who was sleeping with whom/who was related to whom?
- Dylan16807 1y agoWhy do you say that? Is there some obvious reason to blame that specific contractor?
- lazide 1y agoWhen the regulator is far more worried about covering the contractors ass than serving the public, it is a clear concern yes?
- Dylan16807 1y agoThat would be a concern! But I didn't see anything in that description that was against serving the public. The only way to serve the public at that point in time was launching an investigation, not making super preliminary statements about what could have gone wrong and who could have been hurt. I wouldn't say the tone deafness itself is a significant sign of corruption.
- lazide 1y agoIt’s simple. ‘We’ll investigate’? No concern. ‘Don’t blame the contractor?’ Concern.
- deeThrow94 1y ago[flagged]