NASA’s Multi-Million Dollar Mars Probe

Have you ever been bored in a math class at school and questioned when you would ever need to understand concepts like trigonometry or integers? Perhaps you didn't need to know all of that, but others do, especially the kind of individuals who calculate satellite propulsion at NASA.

NASA hoped the Mars Climate Orbiter would be able to offer valuable scientific information on weather patterns on Mars in 1999. Instead, shortly after hitting the atmosphere, it was destroyed. An internal investigation was started by NASA to determine what transpired. After spending $125 million and undergoing months of development, something major had to have gone wrong because the technology never even saw use.

But there was something very little in the reality. an easy mathematical transformation Someone who was in charge of the orbiter's thrusters had forgotten to translate the math. The thrusters' force in pounds of force was determined by the program. However, a few of the other programs in use did the calculation in newtons.

Scientists had to make modifications along the way, which made them recognize something was off. But it was already too late when it showed up. It entered the atmosphere at the incorrect angle and promptly caught fire. This whole situation may have been averted if someone had double-checked the metric conversions.