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Mars Failures: Bad luck or Bad Programs?
HobbySpacer writes "One European mission is on its way to Mars and two US landers will soon launch. They face tough odds for success. Of 34 Mars missions since the start of the space age, 20 have failed. This article looks at why Mars is so hard. It reports, for example, that a former manager on the Mars Pathfinder project believes that "Software is the number one problem". He says that since the mid-70s "software hasnâ(TM)t gone anywhere. There isnâ(TM)t a project that gets their software done."" Or maybe it has to do with being an incredible distance, on an inhumane climate. Either or.
I think it's hard to get to Mars because it's far away and it it's in SPACE! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out! Well on second though....
I really hope this explains why there isn't a manned mission. =)
My life in the land of the rising sun.
That explains why it's so hard? :-)
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
The motivation for achieving Mars is much less than the moon. The reason for this is because there was extreme speculation that the Moon was made of green cheese. Mars is already assumed to have red dust on it. For a society that gorges itself on Big Macs and Cheese Fries this is hardly a worthwhile goal. And as a programmer myself I understand the need to work on projects that will benefit the community as a whole, not on one that will invade a dirt planet.
___ Shout Central - Crushes your nuts!
âoeThe limiting factor in Mars sample return is mass,â he said. âoeDirect return [of samples] from Mars right now exceeds the cost envelope and performance envelope of the available launch vehicles and upper stages.â
The first samples returned should have mystical properties ascribed to them and then sold on EBay. This should generate enough revenue to substantially increase the size of the "cost envelope"...
cheers
(I got engaged last night) =)
When I can get paid $4 million a year just to show up to work every day for 4 hours, 6 months a year, get paid another $5 million just to say that I use XXX brand compilor (or reclining chair), get paid by a university to attend there just because they need a new star Perl Debugger (the last one graduated last year, and the backup got carpal tunnel), then I'll stop messing things up like that.
Then after 3 months you are then shot into a planet and stopped by a parachute and then some air bags. The entire time literally thrown into the surface.
And all this with the safety and security, of the lowest bidder.
I dunno, you tell ME why these missions have a high failure rate. Could it be there is no humans on board therefore not as much care is taken to insure the safe delievery of these machines? Could it be the fact that they are designed not to go to mars, but to go to mars as cheaply as possible. Could it be that no one really has a whole lot of information so a lot about mars is (pun intended) hit or miss?
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
Never test for an error condition you don't know how to handle. -- Steinbach
~Idarubicin
Venus, like the woman she is, is a real bitch and a half.
Thick sulfuric acid atmosphere?
Gigantic storms?
Temperatures that will melt aluminium?
Ahh, I need to stop. I'm getting flashbacks of my ex-gf.
It's not the metric system, it's the martians, or Zhti Ti Kofft as they call themselves. These probes will probably suffer the same fate as Mars Polar Lander. and Mars Climate Orbiter. We probably already know a little more about Mars than they want us to.
The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
On behalf of the Zhti Ti Kofft (and it is nice to see at least one of you using our proper names); I should like to take this opportunity to inform you of one simple rule when approaching our planet.
We drive on the left.
Thank you.
Since metric is the standard, there is no conversion needed. It's those damn silly imperial measurements that the Americans still use that causes the problems. Put it this way, we (the British) invented them, if we were willing to bin them decades ago in favour of something the French invented, they must have been really bad.
I think there's something wrong with that statement in regards to anything that's going to be exploring the unknown.
Their Mission Statement: "To boldly go where no man has gone before, and anticipate absolutely everything."
Table-ized A.I.