As presented in the Software Failure section of the text, the root cause of the Mars Climate Orbiter problem was
A) the cost of the project
B) an inability to track the orbiter at long distances
C) atmospheric friction
D) a communication issue between subsystems
E) None of these

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The root cause of the Mars Climate Orbiter problem was a communication issue between subsystems, specifically a mismatch between the unit of measurement used by the spacecraft's navigation software and the ground software. This led to incorrect thruster firings and ultimately caused the spacecraft to enter Mars' atmosphere at too low an altitude and be destroyed. Cost, tracking, and atmospheric friction were not primary factors in this failure.

As Presented in the Software Failure Section of the Text