NASA's 'window-throwing money' cases

In addition to successful space programs, the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) has many times tasted defeat and cost.

NASA's most expensive accidents

Orbital observation satellite (OCO)

Mission: OCO is expected to become a ' station' in orbit, from which scientists can study how CO2 moves through the atmosphere. Promptly advertised as a device to observe global warming , NASA hopes the OCO will help researchers find ways to tackle climate change. However, the OCO's mission was impossible because after 17 minutes of take-off, the satellite box did not reach the orbit that was attached to the rocket until it plunged into the ocean.

NASA Helios

Without the task of space exploration, Helios is a device that studies the solar-powered atmosphere designed to fly into the higher atmosphere. Far less fortunate than the previous explorer ships, Helios was 'slipped' and crashed into the Pacific Ocean on the first flight.

Hubble Space Telescope

As the first space telescope to be launched into space, Hubble allowed astronomers to look up at stars without being affected by the earth's atmosphere. However, it is the ideal observation environment plus the designer's mind that makes Hubble " myopic". NASA had to pay a small fee to fix this error. When the lens is calibrated, Hubble observes better and has more contributions to science.

Genesis

Genesis is assigned by NASA to the " extremely important " task of flying into space to gather information about the original solar system. However, Genesis's design is too fragile to heal after the mission. NASA has come up with a solution to "capture " this satellite in mid-air by attaching an umbrella. However, every attempt failed, the satellite landed not so gently on the Utah desert. After the collision, the scientists only found a few parts of Genesis.

SBIRS system

The space-controlled SBIRS system is expected by the US Air Force to assist them in correcting ballistic missile launches. Consisting of many low and high orbit satellites, SBIRS is expected to go into operation in 2009, despite the project cost exceeding $ 10 billion. However, when starting the system, SBIRS's first satellite broke its wings in just 7 seconds when it reached orbit.

Mars Polar Lander - Mars Polar Lander (MPL)

MPL is part of the 1998 expansion of the red planet, specifically the polar climate of the planet. The program includes a ground detector mounted on a pedestrian ship equipped with a strong telecommunications system. However, after landing, NASA did not get any information about the MPL. The agency hopes now, when its first astronauts set foot on Mars, it will find MPL and "burial " it most solemnly.

The ground probe of Mars, Deep Space 2

Also sent to Mars on the same spacecraft as MPL, Deep Space 2 is a excavator designed to dive into the Martian crust and collect water resources and chemical composition analysis. But like MPL, the fate of Deep Space 2 is a mystery. According to NASA, the cause of failure is that the agency has built two satellites according to the " fast, good, cheap" criteria. According to an unofficial statistics, in the 1990s, NASA's number of low-cost satellites was inversely proportional to its ability to accomplish tasks.