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Costly Software Errors

NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter …
  • launched 11/12/1998
  • reached Mars on 23/9/1999
  • came too close to surface and disintegrated
Cause of failure:
  • spec said impulse must be calculated in newton seconds
  • one module calculated impulse in pound-force seconds
  • 1 newton ≅ 0.2248 pound-force