Two NASA failures:each over $100 millionhttp://www.nasa.gov/newsinfo/marsreports.html

• Mars Climate Orbiter

  • A confusion in metric/English units caused an engine to fire too strongly, bringing the spacecraft too close to Mars and causing it to crash instead of orbiting

• Polar lander (very probable cause)

  • At 40m above Mars, a parachute and spring-loaded legs were deployed and a new control regime was used as planned
  • The spring-loaded legs bounced, causing the regime to think that the pads had hit the surface
  • The engine was turned off and the spacecraft crashed

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