Thursday, June 15, 2006

News: (Report) Upside-Down Sensors Doomed Craft

By Irene Klotz, Discovery News

June 14, 2006 — Gravity sensors were installed upside-down aboard a NASA spacecraft, dooming the probe to a 193-mph crash landing in the Utah desert, accident investigators said in a report released Tuesday.

"In the wrong orientation, it was impossible for the sensors to detect atmospheric entry," investigators wrote in their report.

The spacecraft was returning samples of solar wind when it smashed to the ground on Sept. 8, 2004.



the full article
.

No comments: