Probe Crash Due to Misdesigned Deceleration Sensor

squirrelhack writes "Seems as though the Genesis spacecraft was able to launch from earth, travel through space, avoid aliens, and cruise back into the atmosphere to be caught by stunt pilots waiting patiently with their helicopters. Alas, the brakes didn't work because a sensor was designed upside down.

Well it turned out to be a win win situation ...

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

The scientists got their samples and the public got a cool crash video

To err is human...

[freeze128]

But it takes a rocket scientist to really screw things up.

Re:There is a bright side

[plover]

We could go to stay.

Well, you can, anyway. "Batman, off the island!"

Obligatory bugs bunny quote

[TykeClone]

They had the silly thing in reverse.

I was trying for comedy

[Anonymous Coward]

...and make some sort of Genesis joke but there just isn't anything funny at all about the damn group.

When told about its demise, Peter Gabriel responded with "So?"

Re:wtf

[twiddlingbits]

Second (or third if ya count the dropped sattelite at Goddard about 18 months ago) screwup by Lockheed on a recent NASA project. Knowing NASA, they'll likely give LockMart a bonus for that performance ;)

Enough!

[Anonymous Coward]

Haven't we had enough stories about sensorship today?

Re:There is a bright side

[djtripp]

But what has it told us about the Vogon's and Interstellar Bypasses?

Upside Down?

[grunt107]

You'd think the siseneG would have been a tip off!

Re:I was trying for comedy

[AKAImBatman]

...and make some sort of Genesis joke but there just isn't anything funny at all about the damn group.

KHAAAAANNNNN!!!!

sensor was designed upside down

[Scrameustache]

Damn Australian scientists!
;-)

Hmm

[rnelsonee]

From the article:
The mission's Mishap Investigation Board will continue to investigate the problem.

Oh, suuuure. MIB stands for "Mishap Investigation Board" now, huh? We're on to you, you governemnt spooks!

Re:wtf

[rusty0101]

Design error: implementor installs the switch as it was designed, which was backwards.

Implementation error: design was correct, but the implementor reversed the polarity of the switch.

Remember Murphy's law is not 'Whatever can go wrong will.' it is 'Whenever there are two possible ways to implement something and one of them will result in a catastropic result, it can be certian that someone will configure things that way.' (paraphrased.)

In this case the report is that there were two possible ways that the switch could be installed by the implementor, one of which would result in the catastrophy that was wittnesed. (And the designers are saying it was that implementation.)

Post event analysis will say 'Yes, it was implemented incorrectly. Our recomendation is that the design be improved to prevent future implementations this way.'

The claim is that the design was correct, had things been implemented 'as designed'. The recomendation is that the design be improved so that an incorrect implementation is less likely to happen in the future.

-Rusty

Re:It seems ...

[c_oflynn]

Man, you are wasting your talent here on Slashdot. With such super-sleuthing abilities, no mystery would be too great for you!

Hmmm...

[katsiris]

I didn't realize that up and down were different in metric than the imperial system.

Re:References

[RollingThunder]

A great one for the NOAA sat is here:

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=102 99

This one has the pictures that are enough to make anyone wince and shake their head sadly.

They should have known!

[GMFTatsujin]

You'd think they would have figured out that the braking switch was in backwards when they saw Genesis's airbags deploy at liftoff.

3... 2... 1... *PFOOF*

Re:There is a bright side

[schon]

Now that we know the IPSHwy works, we have the capability to launch cargo ANYWHERE in the solar system.

So now when I travel, instead of the airline sending my luggage to another city, it can end up anywhere in the *solar system*. Yeah, that's just what we need!

Re:It just shows that you gotta test

[http101]

It wasn't the engineers' faults. According to Bill Gates, the blame goes either on management or the end-user.

You Forgot

[Greyfox]

Freaking "This side up" sticker. It could have been a great alpha test if they'd just had a freaking "this side up" sticker.

Of course, said sticker would have shown up on the invoice to NASA as "sund.explns" and carried a price of $42,000.

Re:There is a bright side

[Martin Blank]

[green]We've polluted the Earth enough, and now you want to pollute the sun?! When will you evil Republicans stop destroying nature?![/green]

odd headlines

[Tablizer]

After that capsule crashed, I saw the following headline:

Saucer From Space Crashes In Utah Desert!

My first thought was, "what bullshit!". But then I realized it was 100% true. (Well, okay, it was kind of an obese saucer shape.)

Re:It seems ...

[Martin Blank]

Have you ever had that experience where you realize you're about to do something terribly, terribly wrong, but the impulse has already been sent and you can't stop it?

Yeah. Every time I go to Slashdot.

it's the ship...

[Dtyst]

you are all wrong, the chip was correctly oriented it was the ship that was installed the wrong way ;)

Re:Alphaware ...

[Waffle Iron]

I seriously doubt it's "a weight, a spring and a switch". It's most likely a MEMS device like those used in airbag modules. Not NASA-designed, not even Lockheed-designed; simply purchased but used incorrectly.

They probably tried to save a few bucks by mail ordering the OEM version rather than the retail version. As a result, it's likely that the only documentation they got was a tiny slip of paper with a confusing international icon diagram and no text instructions whatsoever. It's not hard to see how that could result in a screwup.

Re:It seems ...

[RangerRick98]

If I had mop points, it would be +5 Squeaky Clean :)

Re:There is a bright side

[Gentlewhisper]

[green]We've polluted the Earth enough, and now you want to pollute the sun?! When will you evil Republicans stop destroying nature?![/green]

Hey, look on the bright side! At least the Sun doesn't supernova so soon now, with all the junk we are chucking in!

Re:There is a bright side

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, we worked hard to create all that nuclear waste. Don't just go throwing it away now!

Re:There is a bright side

[red floyd]

Radioisotopes don't grow on trees..

What about Carbon-14?

Re:There is a bright side

[SEWilco]

The primary limitation is the maximum weight we can get to the Earth/Moon Lagrange points. Once at the L-points, the cargo pretty much travels one gravity slingshot to the next with nearly no fuel expenditure.

I'd prefer we get to the interstellar gravitational-thermal equivalence zones and travel via Alderson jump points.

Re:There is a bright side

[AuMatar]

I bow to your superior knowledge of crappy 80s movies :)

Re:References

[fucksl4shd0t]

If my kids weren't sleeping, I'd be laughing loud enough for them to hear me in San Antone.

I can even see where the bolts were missing. :) I can just picture some long-haired stoner with a ratchet giggling his nuts off while he's taking the bolts out. "They'll never figure this out. Heee heee! They won't even check! Heeee Heeeee! Put snakes in my cup, will they, hahahahahahahahaha"

That one has practical joke written all over it. :) And those two guys in the white suits with the shower caps, they're looking at it like "I told you to check the bolts." "I thought you said you had checked the bolts."