Flatts,
Here is another clearcut example of a real life failure of software under circumstances that you would not believe could happen.It was done by NASA in the most public of ways.The main contractor Lockheed Martin is suffering tremendous financial loss.The software had survived testing but still failed.People that think bad things won't happen with y2k clearly are in total denial.
J.L.T.
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>> Community:
>> Forum: comp.software.year-2000
>> Thread: Why I'm Still Preparing (though I'm mostly finished)
>> Message 39 of 219059
Subject:
Re: Why I'm Still Preparing (though I'm mostly finished)
Date:
1999/05/11
Author:
J. Slaven <slaven@home.com>
Posting History
This looks like a good reason for some of us to still be preparing.
dailynews.yahoo.com
-----------8<------------------
Monday May 10 6:51 PM ET
Bad Software Blamed For $1.2 Billion Space Failure
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Corrupted computer software loaded into a Titan 4
rocket is being blamed for wrecking a $1.2 billion military space mission, the most costly in a
string of six U.S. launch failures, a respected trade magazine reported Monday.
A Centaur upper stage booster on the Lockheed Martin Titan 4 rocket veered off course about
nine minutes after blasting off from Cape Canaveral on April 30, leaving a sophisticated $800
million military communications satellite in the wrong orbit.
''The Centaur upper stage was launched carrying an inaccurate software load from Lockheed
Martin that went undetected in the company's software verification process,'' the May 10
edition of Aviation Week and Space Technology reported.
After starting to malfunction, the incorrectly programmed booster went haywire, firing its twin
engines at the wrong times and releasing its costly cargo three hours early into an orbit
thousands of miles (km) too low.
Workers at the Lockheed Martin, Littleton, Colorado, plant that prepared and tested the
software were ''emotionally devastated'' the magazine said. Employees there were already
struggling to cope with the murders of students at Columbine High School, where many of
their children attended class, and the recent announcement of 900 job cuts.
The Titan 4 failure was the costliest in a string of U.S. space
misfortunes. In the last nine months two satellites were blown apart in midair explosions, three
marooned in the wrong orbits and another vaporized in the atmosphere. Over $3.5 billion of
space hardware has been lost.
Lockheed Martin, which suffered three launch failures in April alone, and the U.S. Department
of Defense last week announced separate
inquiries into the rash of space mishaps.
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