The Mars Climate Orbiter Crashed on the Surface of Mars

question 11

Multiple Choice

The Mars Climate Orbiter crashed on the surface of Mars because

• A) one program output thrust in terms of foot-pounds, and another program expected thrust to be expressed in terms of newtons.
• B) the probe lost contact with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory when it entered the Martian atmosphere.
• C) a bug in the computer program caused the vehicle to consume too much fuel on the way to Mars, leaving an inadequate supply for landing.
• D) the extreme cold of deep space caused the computer to crash.
• E) before programmers went on strike at subcontractor Lockheed Martin, one of them sabotaged the flight control software.

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