NASA: Mars Probe Doomed By Human Error
- From: .. <..@.org>
- Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 08:35:36 +0800
NASA: Mars Probe Doomed By Human Error
Report Finds Error Triggered Battery To Fail On Mars Global Surveyor Last Year
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LOS ANGELES, April 13, 2007
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The Mars Global Surveyor went silent last November. During seven years of
mapping it took more than 240,000 pictures of the Martian surface. (NASA/JPL)
Fast Fact
Several attempts to locate the spacecraft were unsuccessful, and the mission was
declared ended in January.
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(AP) Human error triggered a cascade of events that caused the battery to fail
on the Mars Global Surveyor last year, according to a preliminary report
released Friday.
An internal NASA board determined that power loss likely doomed the spacecraft
after a decade of meticulously mapping the Red Planet.
But the problems actually began in 2005, when a routine technical update to
onboard computers caused inconsistencies in the spacecraft's memory. The board
concluded that engineers didn't catch the mistakes because the existing
procedures to do so were inadequate.
Scientists lost contact last November with the $154 million Global Surveyor.
Launched in 1996, it was the oldest of six different active probes on the
Martian surface or circling the planet.
Several attempts to locate the spacecraft were unsuccessful, and the mission was
declared ended in January.
Global Surveyor was built with redundant control systems to guard against
failure. However, the board found inconsistencies in the memories of the
spacecraft's two onboard computers because the updates were done at different
times.
Six months before Global Surveyor fell silent, engineers sent up incorrect
software commands that disabled its solar panels. A final command in November
telling the spacecraft to adjust its solar panels caused the battery to overheat
and lose power.
The Global Surveyor beamed back some 240,000 pictures, including the first
detailed views of swirling dust devils and gullies.
Shortly before it failed, it also found stunning evidence that liquid water
recently coursed through Mars. The discovery, which still needs to be confirmed,
raises the possibility that the planet may have an environment conducive to
primitive life.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be
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"Global Surveyor was built with redundant control systems to guard against
failure. However, the board found inconsistencies in the memories of the
spacecraft's two on board computers because the updates were done at different
times", Quoting AP
It took 2 year to reconstruct it on the ground after the wreck that the
redundant computers were not redundant, what were they doing in the flight. If
One is broken the system is broken. redundant computers are checked everyday to
be sure they are redundant.
"Six months before Global Surveyor fell silent, engineers sent up incorrect
software commands that disabled its solar panels", Quoting AP
One really should pay attention and flip the switch the right way.
"A final command in November telling the spacecraft to adjust its solar panels
caused the battery to overheat and lose power. ", Quoting AP
They don't have safety monitors on the batteries?
NASA is a very open place that gets things done that are so complex it is
amazing they work at all. Errors happen and almost all of them are caught in
time. Look at all the projects that they have that are running way past their
expected live expiations.
In the the early days of the X planes they killed 1 pilot a month for a while.
We sure wouldn't tolerate that today. They work in risky business and their
stuff won;t work like Boeing's and a lot of it can't be brought in for service.
GC
Posted by gcouger at 04:21 PM : Apr 15, 2007
+ report abuse
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Rafterman1
Sometimes, I think the earth and the solar system for that matter, would be
better off without us. When the big rock hits, I just hope it's over fast, and
no one, especially children suffer
Posted by thgdriver at 01:14 PM : Apr 15, 2007
+ report abuse
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This is just the tip of the iceberg. How about the $7 billion that NASA is
spending to send a probe to Pluto? Now they don't even consider Pluto to be a
planet. My goodness our scientist know more about the moon and mars than they do
about the Pacific or Atlantic oceans.
One other amazing thing. NASA can build a robot, send it to Mars. The robot can
drill into the surface and analyze the material and send a report back to earth.
Yet we still do not have a machine capable of collecting votes in Florida and
transmitting the data to a central location for our elections. That makes good
sense, huh?
Posted by mikealford3 at 12:33 PM : Apr 15, 2007
+ report abuse
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I get pi**ed everytime I see something like this. 154 million may not look like
much compared to the whole budget, but how many people could be fed for the same
amount? How many perscriptions could be filled for that amount? How many women
could have mamograms or other tests for that amount? As a cancer survivor it
makes me made to know our government is more interested in exploring Mars or
Pluto than they are finding cures and treatments for deseases like cancer.
Posted by mikealford3 at 12:27 PM : Apr 15, 2007
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Human error. How much is blamed on the quality of the equipment bought; was it
made in the same factories as Dell brand computers?! (hint, hint)
Posted by HypnoToad72 at 08:03 AM : Apr 15, 2007
+ report abuse
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the cost of the space craft, which furthered human knowledge 154 million. in
perspective, Alan Mulally, Ford Motor Co.'s new president and chief executive
officer, received compensation valued at $39.1 million during his four months on
the job last year. NASAs use of the money was much more impressive. if you think
I?m wrong, look at how many auto workers lost their job so that guy could make
that money. And not even a picture to show the kids? science is so much more
impressive then chicanery.
Posted by jonny_chaos at 01:34 AM : Apr 15, 2007
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10 years operating not bad,
if people would learn from thier(sp)
mistakes,progress
would march on,others could not do
what nasa does so put it where
the sun don't shine
Posted by danwa3 at 10:42 PM : Apr 14, 2007
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NASA does an amazingly good job with the budget they get. This craft had a good
service life and was nearing the end. NASA will learn a lot from all of this and
will make future probes even more reliable based on what they have learned.
Posted by sjc_1 at 07:39 PM : Apr 14, 2007
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see, lazy and incompetent. i forgot to chack my math. not week for sure.
Posted by jonny_chaos at 05:50 PM : Apr 14, 2007
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hmmm... laziness and ineptude, fairly common. especially with political
appointiees. my guess is 154 million is the sales tax off dollar soda pops for a
warm week. say 7.5% average tax on a buck. not going to do the math, but thats
like a drop in the bucket. the key is building a few 154 million sports arenas
so the guys that arent intrested in much beyond girls gone wild and beer can get
theirs to. equal funding, off the taxes from playboy and discover magazines.
could get rind of a few government contrats, blackwater, and pay for the whole
trip in a week.
Posted by jonny_chaos at 05:45 PM : Apr 14, 2007
+ report abuse
.
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