The World Today - Comment

 

Question 260: How was the NASA probe Climate Orbiter lost in 1999?
Author: K. - Category: Technology
Difficulty: 4/5 - Zone: United States

  • Bad insulation exposed the electronic circuit to extreme heat, fatally damaging it
  • A typing mistake when entering coordinates caused it to miss the red planet
  • A mixup between Imperial and Metric units in navigation data caused it to approach too near to Mars
  • The probe stopped responding for an unknown reason while it was already in orbit

    Your name: Your email*:
    Comment on the question:

    I have been receiving large quantities of spam through this comment fonctionality, which is particularily dumb from the spammers since nobody but me ever gets to see the comments in question, and I am interested neither in porn nor gambling websites.
    As a result, I am forced to add a verification process. Please answer the question below to prove you are not a spamming bot:

    What is the capital of the US?

    Answer:

    *Only if you want me to be able to contact you concerning your comment