"Stephen" <mcavoys_AT_aolDOT.com> wrote:
> "Cousin Ricky" <ric### [at] yahoocom> wrote:
> >
> > Well, he *did* say "realistic."  It's details like this that cause
> > expensive, taxpayer-funded space probes to vanish without a trace.
>
> No it’s getting Imperial and Metric units mixed up that costs
> taxpayer-funded space probes to vanish without a trace.
> Ok there was a trace :-)

Or relying on the atmospheric pressure for altimeter readings for when to
cut the landing thrusters (a possible fate of Beagle).

Or forgetting to take the Doppler effect into account in radio
communications.  This almost happened to Cassini-Huygens; luckily (or
prudently), the error was discovered during the dry run when Cassini
returned to Earth for a gravitational assist.

Or sending your lander into the kitchen without building it to stand the 740
kelvin and show grace under 9100 kilopascals (all of the early Veneris
missions).  (Kudos to the former Soviets as the only country to
successfully land on Venus, and the only country other than the USA to land
*anywhere* successfully.)

Or typing a period in a computer program where there should have been a
comma.  Er... OK, so it *could* have happened if NASA hadn't caught the bug
in time.  Unfortunately, they didn't catch the missing hyphen in Mariner 1's
backup guidance software...

And the most grievous error of all:  Sending your space ship to Mars!  After
Spirit and Opportunity successfully docked with the Angry Red Planet, NASA
convened a study to find out what went *right*. :-O

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