Time and Navigation by unknow

Time and Navigation by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-58834-492-2
Publisher: Penguin Random House LLC (Publisher Services)
Published: 2015-06-02T00:00:00+00:00


This primary atomic frequency standard, a hydrogen maser, served as a stable frequency source for the Goldstone tracking station.

A backup of the Mariner 1 and 2 spacecraft hanging in the National Air and Space Museum.

MARINER 1 IS DESTROYED

The first American spacecraft sent to explore another planet, Mariner 1, was launched on July 22, 1962 on a mission to the planet Venus. It never even reached space.

WHAT HAPPENED

Unbeknownst to its operators, the launch computer that controlled the Atlas rocket carrying Mariner 1 contained a tiny programming error. A single character had been left out of the guidance equations.

THE CONSEQUENCES

About four minutes into its flight, the Atlas rocket carrying Mariner 1 began behaving erratically. The rocket had to be destroyed, and with it Mariner 1.

LESSONS LEARNED

The disaster revealed a critical need to thoroughly debug software before launch. Mariner 2 was successfully launched in August 1962 and became the first spacecraft to visit another planet. NASA took later corrective actions to engineer software so that small errors did not impact safety. Several Apollo lunar modules safely landed on the moon despite minor software “bugs.”



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.