Jack Flash Jr wrote
Dude.
Ever hear of this puppy?
? Nicely done JF.
More on the orbiter:
"On November 10, 1999, the Mars Climate Orbiter Mishap Investigation Board released a Phase I report, detailing the suspected issues encountered with the loss of the spacecraft. Previously, on September 8, 1999, Trajectory Correction Maneuver-4 was computed and then executed on September 15, 1999. It was intended to place the spacecraft at an optimal position for an orbital insertion maneuver than would bring the spacecraft around Mars at an altitude of 226-kilometers on September 23, 1999. However, during the week between TCM-4 and the orbital insertion maneuver, the navigation team indicated the altitude may be much lower than intended at 150-kilometers to 170-kilometers. Twenty-four hours prior to orbital insertion, calculations placed the orbiter at an altitude of 110-kilometers; 80-kilometers is the minimum altitude that Mars Climate Orbiter was thought to be capable of surviving during this maneuver. Final calculations placed the spacecraft in a trajectory that would have taken the orbiter within 57-kilometers of the surface where the spacecraft likely disintegrated because of atmospheric stresses. The primary cause of this discrepancy was human error, caused when the flight system software on board Mars Climate Orbiter, was written to calculate thruster performance in metric Newtons (N) while the ground crew was inputing course corrections using the Imperial measure, Pound-force (lbf). This error has since been known as the metric mixup and has been carefully avoided in all missions since by NASA."
From Wikipedia. Robin Williams mentions it in his Ganja gag in "Live on broadway".
Sorry for the derail, i don't own an LP, but i'm loving the pictures & the stories.
