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Mars Orbiter

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Mars Climate Orbiter Project

Abstract

NASA launched Mars Climate Orbiter on Dec. 11, 1998, atop a Delta II launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Nine and a half months after launch, the spacecraft was to fire its main engine to achieve an elliptical orbit around Mars .However, in Sept, 1999 Mars space probe was ‘lost’. The failure was due to a number of issues related to project management. One of the issues was: two teams involved in the space probe development were using different systems of measurement – one was using metres, centimetres and kilogrammes, the other was using feet, inches and pounds. However, there were a number of other contributing factors.
There was inadequate consideration of the entire mission and its post-launch operation as a total system Inconsistent Communications and training within the project. There was no complete end-to-end verification of navigation software and related computer models
The project had failed to set clear success criteria for the project outcomes. The scope of the project had not been matched to the funding, leading to inadequate funding for defined outcomes.
The project was lacking in good team working environment and adequate, appropriate staffing. The problem was found to be poor communication between, rather than within, different teams. Lack of better monitoring of contractors’ work. Later on, better trained personnel with project management courses were recommended.
There was inadequate risk management and issue control. It was recommended that future projects should conduct continuous risk analysis and discussion of issues from start to end of the project. NASA needed to foster a climate in which issues could be easily raised.

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