Beagle 2 Failure Analyzed

InsomniaCity writes "An inquiry into the loss of the Beagle 2 Mars probe in December will criticize the management of the project and the testing of the lander, says the BBC. Following the loss, the European Space Agency (Esa) and the British National Space Centre established a Commission of Inquiry, that are now recommending 19 things we need to remember for the future, from project management and fund raising, to high altitude testing of the parachute system. The commission, however, did not pinpoint any particular technical failure."

Comments

Re:Exploring other worlds is expensive

[Space cowboy]

Bad example, Leeds is no longer premier league (at least after this season) and they desperately need the cash due to some very dodgy management.

Er - Leeds sold Rio in July 2002, the year after they were in the most prestigious footballing competition in the world - the Champions league! At the time, they were flying high. Granted, it was Icarus-like but that was due to later seasons not at the time...

I think it's a great example :-)

Simon

Re:Exploring other worlds is expensive

[wfberg]

That 30million isn't real money though because it never really leaves the football transfer system. They may as well trade in shiny beads quite frankly. Player salaries however, are different as the payment becomes the property of the player to spend, presumably, in the general economy.

That money was minted though - it came from somewhere (the rest of the economy). Let them switch to beads and give me the money!

A good example of actual fake money is "market capitalization" or "$x million in stock" (where in reality, if all those shares were dumped on the market, you couldn't find any one to buy them, most certainly not at the listed stock price). Too bad decisions about actual money are made based on phony figures like that.