# Whatever became of that poor sod that forgot to convert meters to ft. for Mars probe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 22, 2002, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-became-of-that-poor-sod-that-forgot-to-convert-meters-to-ft-for-mars-probe/110391 "2002-05-22T23:36:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-became-of-that-poor-sod-that-forgot-to-convert-meters-to-ft-for-mars-probe/110391/1 "2002-05-22T23:36:33Z")
Remember that Mar’s probe that went AWOL a few year’s back? Apparently some guy didn’t make the conversion from US to Metric or vice versa. Where can i get a pic of this dude? 😛 Can the screw-up really be traced (if you really wanted to) to one guy/gal? Oh the horror. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-became-of-that-poor-sod-that-forgot-to-convert-meters-to-ft-for-mars-probe/110391/2 "2002-05-23T00:32:29Z")
I heard that too, but I thought it was a joke. Where did you hear about it? ---
**Author:** ![johncole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@johncole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johncole)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-became-of-that-poor-sod-that-forgot-to-convert-meters-to-ft-for-mars-probe/110391/3 "2002-05-23T00:52:47Z")
The failure of the Mars Climate Orbiter was indeed attributable to a failure to ensure that all systems were using the same units of measurement (or that correct conversions were performed). [\*\*“It was overlooked” \*\*](http://www.anomalous-images.com/news/news537.html) ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-became-of-that-poor-sod-that-forgot-to-convert-meters-to-ft-for-mars-probe/110391/4 "2002-05-23T00:55:01Z")
And johncole’s link describes what happened afterwards: > [@](#): > > Following recommendations from Stephenson’s investigation board, Stone said the team directing the Mars Polar Lander has been reorganized and strengthened. He said senior engineers have been added to the group and a new system of review and evaluation has been installed. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-became-of-that-poor-sod-that-forgot-to-convert-meters-to-ft-for-mars-probe/110391/5 "2002-05-23T01:22:40Z")
All members of the team directing the Mars Polar Lander were also issued Trapper Keepers, which have those handy English-to-metric conversion charts printed on the brightly colored folders. “Let’s go metric!” signs, featuring the delightful character Karl the Kilogram, were also posted in prominent areas of the control room. ---
**Author:** ![Fyodor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/958977/32.png) [@Fyodor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fyodor)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-became-of-that-poor-sod-that-forgot-to-convert-meters-to-ft-for-mars-probe/110391/6 "2002-05-23T02:28:58Z")
At the time it happened, someone posted what is still possibly the funniest line I ever read on the SDMB, something like this: “I’m no rocket scientist…but it’s good to see that rocket scientists aren’t rocket scientists either.” ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-became-of-that-poor-sod-that-forgot-to-convert-meters-to-ft-for-mars-probe/110391/7 "2002-05-23T03:22:57Z")
I followed the whole thing in some trade magazines at the time, and there was a lot more to the failure of the probe than just converting some units. There were problems both at NASA and the contractor. For example, the controllers at NASA knew the probe was way off course days ahead of time, but did nothing to correct it. Procedures on both sides simply weren’t followed. Basically it was decided, for political reasons, to make Lockheed the scapegoat so NASA wouldn’t lose face (and $$$) with Congress. But you would think rocket scientists could come up with a better excuse. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-became-of-that-poor-sod-that-forgot-to-convert-meters-to-ft-for-mars-probe/110391/8 "2002-05-23T06:05:06Z")
I know someone who used to (long time ago, but he still knows a few people there) work at JPL. He mentioned that there were problems down there (before this story broke) after they had gotten rid of a lot of older people (presumably to save salary costs) and brought in too many new guys at once. So the new guys were in the position of having to pick up on someone else’s work. Notice the one line in Arnold Winkelreid’s quote that says “senior engineers added” which seems to reflect this part of the problem. As my friend put it (at least as I recall) the specific unit conversion was something like this – someone had written a program to calculate the thrust using Metric (or English) units. New guy comes in and only sees a number. Possibly he checked, but at some point the switch was made to interpreting that number in English (or Metric) units. This, combined with other problems (as **Jet Jaguar** mentioned) caused the crash. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-became-of-that-poor-sod-that-forgot-to-convert-meters-to-ft-for-mars-probe/110391/9 "2002-05-23T17:38:22Z")
> [@](#): > > . . . they had gotten rid of a lot of older people (presumably to save salary costs) and brought in too many new guys at once . . . It’s always the way. I hope they saved a lot; it would take a lot of salaries to equal the cost of that probe. RR ---
**Author:** ![Com2Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@Com2Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Com2Kid)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-became-of-that-poor-sod-that-forgot-to-convert-meters-to-ft-for-mars-probe/110391/10 "2002-05-23T20:19:06Z")
Oddest thing is, every science and math course I took in public schools used purely Metric. Only in College does customary seem to still exist. ---
**Author:** ![il\_Topo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eb9ed0/32.png) [@il\_Topo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/il_Topo)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-became-of-that-poor-sod-that-forgot-to-convert-meters-to-ft-for-mars-probe/110391/11 "2002-05-28T21:50:12Z")
I heard one engineer measured the weight of the probe in stones, but another engineer naturally assumed the numbers were in slugs. :rolleyes: I’m having trouble picturing a “rocket scientist” software engineer programming in the conversion equation from feet to miles. Somehow I have to doubt that the oft repeated reason for the disaster is actually happened. ---
**Author:** ![comradegonzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@comradegonzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/comradegonzo)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2002, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-became-of-that-poor-sod-that-forgot-to-convert-meters-to-ft-for-mars-probe/110391/12 "2002-05-29T02:43:15Z")
Said sod is a she, and still works with NASA. This makes a certain amount of sense, since of all the engineers, she is probably the least likely to ever make a mistake again. PS: So says a friend of hers I know, for all who wondered.