Mars Failures: Bad luck or Bad Programs?

HobbySpacer writes "One European mission is on its way to Mars and two US landers will soon launch. They face tough odds for success. Of 34 Mars missions since the start of the space age, 20 have failed. This article looks at why Mars is so hard. It reports, for example, that a former manager on the Mars Pathfinder project believes that "Software is the number one problem". He says that since the mid-70s "software hasnâ(TM)t gone anywhere. There isnâ(TM)t a project that gets their software done."" Or maybe it has to do with being an incredible distance, on an inhumane climate. Either or.

I think it's the metric system

[xanie]

You know, 1/10th of something rather than 1/4. Damn engineers can't figure out the conversion between metric and standard!

We landed on the moon with 512 bytes of RAM

[vasqzr]

...or so the story goes. I'm sure we can make it to Mars with our current technology.

I think it's hard to get to Mars because it's far away and it it's in SPACE! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out! Well on second though....

sabatoge

[InvaderSkooge]

I'm fairly certian it's sabatoge on the part of the Martians.

manned mars mission

[lingqi]

Of 34 Mars missions since the start of the space age, 20 have failed.

I really hope this explains why there isn't a manned mission. =)

Men are from Mars..

[jkrise]

That explains why it's so hard? :-)

Windows

[Playboy3k]

They must be running Windows?

Wrong Motivation

[emo boy]

The motivation for achieving Mars is much less than the moon. The reason for this is because there was extreme speculation that the Moon was made of green cheese. Mars is already assumed to have red dust on it. For a society that gorges itself on Big Macs and Cheese Fries this is hardly a worthwhile goal. And as a programmer myself I understand the need to work on projects that will benefit the community as a whole, not on one that will invade a dirt planet.

Had to do it...

[Rorgg]

Oooh, stories like this make me SO ANGRY.

An opportunity here...

[theophilus00]

âoeThe limiting factor in Mars sample return is mass,â he said. âoeDirect return [of samples] from Mars right now exceeds the cost envelope and performance envelope of the available launch vehicles and upper stages.â

The first samples returned should have mystical properties ascribed to them and then sold on EBay. This should generate enough revenue to substantially increase the size of the "cost envelope"...

cheers

(I got engaged last night) =)

Re:Had to do it...

[MattCohn.com]

It's not the Hulk, it's Marvin the Martion. Ooooh, mixups like those make me VERY angry!

Re:Methodolgies

[Anonymous Coward]

Also who are they employing to write their software? Rocket scientists or coders. In my experience domain expertise counts for very little when it comes to writting rock solid code.

Hmmm... Rock solid code and solid rockets - not interchangeable.

Hell, I'd hate to see a coder build rockets. They'd all have NCC1701 written down the side, or be a mile long...

The root cause of all the failures...

[mustangsal66]

Marvin The Martian's Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator...

Re:Men are from Mars..

[Idarubicin]

What, do they refuse to ask for directions or something? ;)

Re:I disagree, Mr. Editor

[Lord_Slepnir]

When I can get paid $4 million a year just to show up to work every day for 4 hours, 6 months a year, get paid another $5 million just to say that I use XXX brand compilor (or reclining chair), get paid by a university to attend there just because they need a new star Perl Debugger (the last one graduated last year, and the backup got carpal tunnel), then I'll stop messing things up like that.

Re:Small Simple... Solid State

[Anonymous Coward]

as simple as

10 REM my Martian exploration program
20 GOTO MARS

I don't get what's so hard ...

[SuperDuG]

Place sensitive computerized equipment on top of massive explosive materials. Ignite materials causing massive controlled explosion forcing upward and mixed with the pull of gravity causing somewhere in the ballpark of 9 G's of force pulling down every part of the sensitive computerized equipment. Then when all is said in done with the explosion, have another explosion in a vacuum of the coldest and most uninhabitable spot in the entire universe.

Then after 3 months you are then shot into a planet and stopped by a parachute and then some air bags. The entire time literally thrown into the surface.

And all this with the safety and security, of the lowest bidder.

I dunno, you tell ME why these missions have a high failure rate. Could it be there is no humans on board therefore not as much care is taken to insure the safe delievery of these machines? Could it be the fact that they are designed not to go to mars, but to go to mars as cheaply as possible. Could it be that no one really has a whole lot of information so a lot about mars is (pun intended) hit or miss?

Re:Its a shame

[Anonymous Coward]

"Software is not math"

everything is math my friend, even you will one day be expressed as an equation

Interesting...

[Idarubicin]

Did anybody else notice today's witty quotation at the bottom of the page? Does this answer the question?

Never test for an error condition you don't know how to handle. -- Steinbach

Re:The software motto...

[rigorist]

As my father always said, "Garbage in, gospel out."

It's like, sarcasm, or something,

[Thud457]

"He says that since the mid-70s "software hasnâ(TM)t gone anywhere. "

But it's gotten much prettier!

Re:sabatoge

[EpsCylonB]

What, exactly, is the insight? Maybe there should be a "+/-1, TinFoilHat" mod.

I used to mock the whole tin foil hat idea, until I put one on. Once their signals stopped entering my brain I started to see things differently. If you have never actually tried a tin foil hat then you shouldn't laugh.

Java is the answer

[Anonymous Coward]

Java moves the bugs from the application level to the JVM level - freeing the programmer to make slower code.

You think Mars is tough?

[Noehre]

Venus, like the woman she is, is a real bitch and a half.

Thick sulfuric acid atmosphere?

Gigantic storms?

Temperatures that will melt aluminium?

Ahh, I need to stop. I'm getting flashbacks of my ex-gf.

Re:I think it's the metric system

[uncoveror]

It's not the metric system, it's the martians, or Zhti Ti Kofft [uncoveror.com] as they call themselves. These probes will probably suffer the same fate as Mars Polar Lander. [uncoveror.com] and Mars Climate Orbiter. [uncoveror.com] We probably already know a little more about Mars than they want us to.

The reason is obvious!

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course Mars is hard, it is in space and anytime you put a candy bar in space, it shall become hard. Now drop that bad boy in some hot oil and you have a confectionary treat...now...what is the chance of taking fry daddies with the probes to warm Mars up a bit? Rambling is good!

Well-placed typo

[TFloore]

I don't usually comment on typos, mostly because I make so many myself. (Pot, kettle, etc.)

But in the article:

âoeFaliures are simply due to human error, which is avoidable,â said Spear.

That was just too perfect.

Re:I think it's the metric system

[mikerich]

Ahem, people of Earth, your attention please!

On behalf of the Zhti Ti Kofft (and it is nice to see at least one of you using our proper names); I should like to take this opportunity to inform you of one simple rule when approaching our planet.

We drive on the left.

Thank you.

Re:I think it's the metric system

[rasilon]

Since metric is the standard, there is no conversion needed. It's those damn silly imperial measurements that the Americans still use that causes the problems. Put it this way, we (the British) invented them, if we were willing to bin them decades ago in favour of something the French invented, they must have been really bad.

Re:manned mars mission

[Waffle Iron]

I doubt lack of gravity would have that sort of effect.

Cells are held together by the hydrophobicity of their phospholipid bilayers. This effect is not decreased by lack of gravity.

You've told me zero-G isn't the problem . Now ... I want you to tell me: What ... is ... killing ... my ... men!!??

You've got to the bottom of this .... before we all end up like Johnson. I'll be in my quarters.

Re:I disagree, Mr. Editor

[Tablizer]

I think there's something wrong with that statement in regards to anything that's going to be exploring the unknown.

Their Mission Statement: "To boldly go where no man has gone before, and anticipate absolutely everything."