DescentBB

Excerpt:

"The MIB, analyzing the Genesis capsule at a facility near Denver, said the likely cause was a design error that involves the orientation of gravity-switch devices. The switches sense the braking caused by the high-speed entry into the atmosphere, and then initiate the timing sequence leading to deployment of the craft's drogue parachute and parafoil."

Excerpt 2:

"Each avionics unit contains two g-switches (bottom) used to sense deceleration as the capsule enters the Earth's atmosphere. Investigators report a likely reason Genesis' chutes did not open was a faulty design that had these switches improperly installed on a circuit board."

What was it ? 300 million bucks ? ..

MIB? Men in Black?

That sucks Though I don't think it was such a good idea to make the parachutes engage via a basic spring? what about a baromoter or something?

Nitrofox125 wrote:MIB? Men in Black?

Mishap Investigation Board

Defender wrote:

Nitrofox125 wrote:MIB? Men in Black?

Mishap Investigation Board

Lol @ Mishap, faulty design = mishap... Multi million dollar spacecraft crashing to ground != Mishap.

Krom wrote: Lol @ Mishap, faulty design = mishap... Multi million dollar spacecraft crashing to ground != Mishap.

and one expensive hole.

MIB still has me chuckling...

You know someone had a sense of humor...NOT

No one was hurt, so it is correctly described as a mishap.

And 300 million isn't really that much money - unless you personally have to earn it. Someone famous in US government once said, "A Billion here and a Billion there and pretty soon you start talking serious money."

More of a fiasco in my view is the 150 Million or so spent on the "secure low pressure" facility designed to recieve the Genesis contents. There were concerns (a la Andromeda Strain) that particles collected in space might pose some hazard here on earth. Guess THAT money was kinda wasted.

As it turns out, the Genesis probe looks like it'll yield some usable data - so the mission wasn't a total washout.

Let's not forget some rather more spectacular failures: Mars Polar Lander (Feet instead of Meters), Space Shuttle Challenger (Launching in sub-zero temperatures), Space Shuttle Columbia (ET insulation failure), Apollo 1 (Fire enhanced by pure Oxygen atmosphere, no quick exit available).

These are the worst failures. Believe me, there'll be more - and worse failures too. I predict that by 2050 there'll have been 500 people die in space, or in the pursuit of space.

This will pale into nothingness when put against the number of people who died opening up The Wild West though.

Grendel wrote: "Each avionics unit contains two g-switches (bottom) used to sense deceleration as the capsule enters the Earth's atmosphere. Investigators report a likely reason Genesis' chutes did not open was a faulty design that had these switches improperly installed on a circuit board."

What was it ? 300 million bucks ? ..

$300 Million, and these guys cant properly wire a sensor to a PCB?!?!?!

ROTFLMAO!!

Mobius wrote:I predict that by 2050 there'll have been 500 people die in space, or in the pursuit of space.

i hope so. i hope we get to the point where people are dying in space from car-carshes, and heart attacks caused by roadrage.

when space travel gets THAT common, things'll be sweet.