There have been many remarkable achievements, such as the Galileo probe which parachuted into Jupiter's atmosphere, to the joy of the engineers who built it. But there have also been many humiliating failures. Sometimes the cause is a silly procedural error, such as a minus sign instead of a plus sign in a computer program, or a mix up between Imperial and Metric units. The Russian craft Phobos 1 was lost en route to Mars after being sent an incorrect command, because the spacecraft's computer was insufficiently robust to ...
Read More
There have been many remarkable achievements, such as the Galileo probe which parachuted into Jupiter's atmosphere, to the joy of the engineers who built it. But there have also been many humiliating failures. Sometimes the cause is a silly procedural error, such as a minus sign instead of a plus sign in a computer program, or a mix up between Imperial and Metric units. The Russian craft Phobos 1 was lost en route to Mars after being sent an incorrect command, because the spacecraft's computer was insufficiently robust to reject it. More recently, NASA has suffered the loss of several missions to Mars, including one due to a simple computer programming error. In Space Systems Failures, David Harland (here working with co-author Ralph Lorenz) describes the many quite fascinating tales of woe involving failures of rockets, satellites and deep space missions in his inimitable style, providing a unique insight into the trials and tribulations of exploration at the high frontier.
Read Less
Add this copy of Space Systems Failures: Disasters and Rescues of to cart. $39.47, very good condition, Sold by Books From California rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Simi Valley, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2005 by Praxis.
Add this copy of Space Systems Failures: Disasters and Rescues of to cart. $76.28, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2005 by Praxis.