Why NASA's Mars Polar Lander Failed
MICHAEL HOLMES, WORLD NEWS: Investigators say a software flaw, a premature engine shutdown and problems with NASA money and management were behind the failure of the United States space agency Mars mission. An independent team looked into why the Mars Polar Lander never got to explore the red planet. CNN's Miles O'Brien has the details.</s>MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nearly four months after the Mars Polar Lander was supposed to begin snapping stunning new images of the red planet, the definitive look at what went wrong with the spacecraft offers anything but a pretty picture.</s>TOM YOUNG, MARS PROGRAM INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT TEAM: We believe the flaws to be serious and requires significant corrective action.</s>O'BRIEN: Retired aerospace executive Tom Young led an 18-member independent team that looked at why the lander failed. They believe it's almost certain that premature engine shutdown occurred because of inadequate software design and testing. In essence, a sensor thought the lander was on the ground while still at an altitude of 130 feet.</s>ED WEILER, NASA ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR: That's like dropping from an eight-story building, which would be a bad day.</s>O'BRIEN: At the root of it all, according to the Young team, the so-called Mars '98 missions, which also included the failed Mars Climate Orbiter, were led by competent but inexperienced project managers who were under-funded by at least 30 percent.</s>YOUNG: They were trying to do everything that was humanly possible to make these programs work. There just wasn't enough of them. There wasn't enough resources.</s>O'BRIEN: NASA managers point the finger at the system. No heads will roll.</s>ED STONE, DIRECTOR, NASA JET PROPULSION LABORATORY: This is not about who's to blame. This is about understanding how to assure mission success.</s>O'BRIEN: So what's next for NASA? An orbiter destined to launch next year will fly on time. But beyond that, the Mars program faces some wholesale changes.</s>WEILER: It's going to be a little slower. It will be a little more expensive. But a little, not a lot. But it will be very much better.</s>O'BRIEN (on camera): So despite a disastrous year, the faster- better-cheaper philosophy lives on. NASA pushed the envelope, and it ripped. Space agency managers insist that's a lesson they will not forget as they go back to the drawing board to chart a new strategy for exploring the red planet. Miles O'Brien, CNN, Washington.