Always Sweat the Small Things

“Houston, we have a problem.” Thanks to Tom Hanks, those words are forever etched into western culture. They are now ubiquitous in everyday speech when describing an unforeseen and often serious difficulty. Hanks was sensational in his role as Captain Jim Lovell, even if he slightly altered the original quote from Lovell, “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” I like to think Captain Lovell was ok with the artistic liberties. It’s not every day that Tom Hanks is cast to play you.

Thanks to diligent high school science teachers, most of us are familiar with the twists and turns of the story, and the enormous triumph of engineering that brought the three astronauts home. From the moment of the explosion to the eventual touchdown in the south pacific, the movie is riveting. Engineers overcome obstacle after obstacle as they make their way to the crux of the action – reentry.

Even with a fully functioning spacecraft, reentry is the most dangerous part of the flight. The extreme heat generated by the friction of air moving over the craft can cause a myriad of problems. The astronauts aboard apollo 13 did not have the luxury of instrumentation. Or computer guidance. Or anything else you would like to have in that moment. They executed a 500 point checklist that had been prepared just hours prior, and manually piloted the spacecraft through a window of less than one degree, with limited fuel, and no help. What they pulled off, is as close to a miracle as it gets, and it stands as a testament to the difficult and exacting nature of space flight.

Had they missed that angle even slightly. Or accelerated a hair too much prior to entering the gravitational pull of earth they would have suffered the same fate of the unmanned mars climate observer in 1999. The climate orbiter had a solid game plan It was to skim in the upper levels of Mars’ atmosphere for several weeks using air brakes to slow itself down, until it could safely enter the thicker portions of atmosphere.

The plan had been painstakingly laid over the course of five years since the program was conceived. The optimal elevation for the craft to begin its insertion into the Martian atmosphere was planned to be between 150 and 170 kilometers. 24 hours prior to entry, the craft was observed at an elevation of 110 kilometers. Much lower than planned. But still safely above the 80 kilometer threshold for which the craft could safely enter.

At 9:04 AM on September 23, 1999, communication with the spacecraft was lost. This was no reason to panic. The craft was on its planned path behind mars. If you recall from Apollo 13 this is referred to as going dark. In Apollo 13, the astronauts triumphantly regained communication with NASA headquarters after completing their circuit around the moon. The Mars climate orbiter, however, was never heard from again.

Is to be expected when a 300-million-dollar piece of equipment is lost, an investigation was launched. It did not take long for the post failure calculations to reveal the problem. The orbiter had not been 110 kilometers above Mars. It had been only 57 kilometers above the surface. While the final result is known, one of two things happened. The orbiter either disintegrated as it entered the thicker layers of atmosphere faster than anticipated, or it skipped off the thick air and is still out there somewhere.

With the cause of the accident identified, NASA officials were left with an even bigger question. How had they been so off in their measurement of 110 kilometers of altitude. What you are about to hear, will likely make you very upset as a taxpayer.

The primary cause of the problem was that one piece of ground software supplied by Lockheed Martin produced results in a United States customary unit, contrary to its Software Interface Specification (SIS), while a second system, supplied by NASA, expected those results to be in SI units, in accordance with the SIS. Simply put, Lockheed Martin was giving NASA data in inches and feet, while NASA thought they were getting meters. NASA lost a $300 million spacecraft, because they didn’t convert from customary to metric.

I have made a lot of dumb mistakes in my life. Many of them were made for equally dumb reasons. Luckily, I have never made a mistake in the ballpark of $300 million. I am a believer that learning from your mistakes is an important facet of life. I also believe in learning from other’s mistakes.

At the end of the day, the climate orbiter was lost because of a simple communication error. That error was likely overlooked because both parties assumed they were correct. Lockheed assumed they should use customary units because they were an American company supplying data to an American agency. NASA of course assumed they would be dealing in metric units because they were a scientific agency, and all science is done in metric units. We can safely assume that there were countless meetings between the two parties. They would have discussed everything there was to discuss about the software and equipment. They would know those systems like the back of their hand. They had so many more important, more technical things to discuss, that of course they never thought to address the basic items like measurement units.

I’m going to take a leap and assume that you are not going to design a spaceship at any point in your life. You are however likely to buy a house, plan for retirement, pay off a student loan, apply for a credit card, and purchase a new car. It is also likely that many of you do not make those decisions and plans alone. This week’s advice applies specifically to those who are married or with a partner. When it comes to finances, make certain that you and your partner are crystal clear on your financial plans. Even down to the smallest detail.