How a Single Math Error Caused a $500 Million Satellite to Crash

Summary

This video script recounts the costly mistake of NASA's Mars orbiter mission in 1999, which was destroyed due to a metric conversion error made by Lockheed Martin. It highlights the importance of the metric system's adoption and the challenges faced by the United States in transitioning from the English customary system. The script emphasizes the universal difficulty of math and engineering, and it encourages learning from mistakes. It also promotes Brilliant's educational resources for mastering complex subjects like orbital mechanics.

Takeaways

• 🚀 NASA's 1999 Mars Orbiter mission failed due to a math error that cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
• 📏 The error stemmed from a mix-up between the metric and customary (imperial) systems of measurement.
• 🌍 The metric system was invented in France in the 1790s and gradually spread across Europe and its colonies.
• 🏰 Germany and Italy, which were collections of independent states with various measurement systems, adopted the metric system to facilitate trade and communication.
• 🇬🇧 The United Kingdom and Ireland were the last European countries to adopt the metric system, with the UK doing so in 1965.
• 🗽 The United States has had a complicated relationship with the metric system, with the federal government adopting it in 1975, but much of the population and private sector still using customary units.
• 🔢 Lockheed Martin, a private contractor for NASA, used customary units instead of metric as specified, leading to the miscalculation of satellite thruster data.
• 🌐 The Mars Orbiter was designed to orbit at 150 km but descended to 57 km due to the measurement error, causing it to burn up in Mars' atmosphere.
• 📚 The story illustrates that even highly trained professionals can make simple mistakes with significant consequences, emphasizing the importance of careful measurement and unit conversion.
• 💡 Learning from mistakes is crucial, and NASA has not repeated such a conversion error since, showing the value of understanding and applying lessons learned.

Q & A

What was the main reason behind the failure of NASA's Mars satellite in 1999?

The main reason behind the failure was a math error caused by a unit conversion mistake between the metric system used by NASA and the customary system used by their subcontractor, Lockheed Martin.

Which company was responsible for the design and construction of the failed Mars satellite?

Lockheed Martin was responsible for the design and construction of the Mars satellite that failed in 1999.

What was the cost of the Mars satellite failure in terms of money and time?

The cost of the Mars satellite failure was over three hundred and twenty-seven million dollars, which is equivalent to five hundred and twenty-three million dollars in today's money, and ten months of time spent on the mission.

Why did Lockheed Martin provide data in pounds instead of the metric system as required by NASA?

Lockheed Martin, despite NASA's explicit contract specifications to use the metric system, provided data in pounds, likely due to their continued use of the customary system.

What was the intended orbit distance of the Mars satellite, and what actually happened?

The intended orbit distance of the Mars satellite was 150 kilometers, but due to the conversion error, it descended to just 57 kilometers above the Martian surface and burned up in the atmosphere.

How did the metric system originate and spread?

The metric system originated in France in the 1790s and spread across Europe and to colonies, with most countries adopting it by the 19th century. It was adopted by the United States in 1975 for military and government agencies.

Which countries are known to have been slow in adopting the metric system?

The United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States were known to be slow in adopting the metric system, with the US being the last English-speaking country to officially adopt it for certain government agencies.

What is the significance of the metric system in simplifying international trade and communication?

The metric system simplifies international trade and communication by providing a standardized system of measurement that all countries can use, eliminating confusion and errors caused by different local systems.

What lesson can be learned from the Mars satellite failure regarding unit conversion and communication?

The lesson learned from the Mars satellite failure is the critical importance of clear communication and adherence to specified unit systems to prevent costly mistakes in engineering and scientific endeavors.

How does the video script encourage viewers to improve their understanding of complex subjects like math and engineering?

The video script encourages viewers to improve their understanding of complex subjects by suggesting educational resources like Brilliant's courses and daily challenges, which provide context and practical application of concepts.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 The Costly Math Mistake of Mars Orbiter

The video begins by highlighting the importance of learning from mistakes, especially in complex fields like mathematics and engineering. It recounts the story of a significant error made by NASA in 1999, where a satellite intended to orbit Mars caught fire and exploded due to a math error. This error was traced back to a miscommunication between NASA, which uses the metric system, and Lockheed Martin, which was still using the customary system. Despite NASA's contract specifying the use of metric units, Lockheed Martin provided data in pounds, leading NASA to incorrectly assume the data was in metric units. The result was a catastrophic failure, with the satellite descending too close to Mars and burning up in its atmosphere, costing hundreds of millions of dollars. The video uses this historical event to underscore the universal challenge of math and the potential for even the most skilled professionals to make costly errors.

05:00

📚 Learning from Mistakes: The Path to Mastery

The second paragraph shifts focus from the historical account to the broader implications of the mistake and the importance of learning from them. It emphasizes that math and engineering are challenging fields where even small errors can lead to significant consequences. The video suggests that such mistakes offer valuable lessons, as they teach us what not to do in the future. It points out that NASA has not repeated such a conversion error since the Mars Orbiter incident. The video then transitions to promoting educational resources, specifically courses on gravitational physics and daily challenges offered by Brilliant, which aim to help learners improve their skills in science and mathematics. The host encourages viewers to embrace education and self-improvement, offering a discount for the first 500 people who sign up for Brilliant's premium subscription. The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to learn from their mistakes and to continue their educational journey.

Keywords

💡Metric System

The metric system is a decimal-based system of measurement that was first introduced in France in the 1790s. It provides a unified standard for measuring length, mass, and capacity. In the video, the metric system is highlighted as a solution to the chaos of various measurement systems that existed before it. It is shown as a system that facilitated trade and communication by providing a common language of measurement, which is crucial for international cooperation and understanding, as exemplified by its adoption across Europe and later globally.

💡NASA

NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is the United States government agency responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. The video discusses a significant mistake made by NASA in 1999, where a satellite failed due to a unit conversion error. This incident underscores the importance of precision and standardization in scientific and engineering practices, as well as the potential consequences of oversights in such high-stakes fields.

💡Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that is a major contractor for the U.S. government. In the context of the video, Lockheed Martin is mentioned as the subcontractor responsible for the design and construction of the Mars Climate Orbiter satellite. Their use of the English customary system instead of the metric system, as specified by NASA, led to a critical error that resulted in the loss of the satellite. This example from the video illustrates the importance of clear communication and adherence to standards in collaborative projects.

💡Unit Conversion Error

A unit conversion error refers to a mistake made when translating measurements from one system of units to another. In the video, this error is central to the narrative, as it led to the destruction of the Mars Climate Orbiter. The satellite's thrusters were incorrectly calibrated due to data being provided in pounds instead of the expected newtons. This mistake highlights the potential for significant consequences when such errors occur, especially in complex and high-stakes environments like space travel.

💡Mars Climate Orbiter

The Mars Climate Orbiter was a NASA space mission intended to study the Martian atmosphere, climate, and surface changes. The video uses the failure of this mission as a case study to discuss the impact of a unit conversion error. The orbiter was destroyed upon arrival at Mars due to incorrect trajectory calculations based on the wrong unit of measurement for thruster forces. This incident serves as a cautionary tale about the importance of precision in scientific endeavors.

💡English Customary System

The English customary system, also known as the Imperial system, is the system of measurement that was historically used in the United Kingdom and its colonies, including the United States. It includes units such as inches, feet, and pounds. The video contrasts this system with the metric system and discusses how Lockheed Martin's use of the customary system, instead of the metric system required by NASA, led to the Mars Climate Orbiter disaster. This highlights the challenges of transitioning between different measurement systems and the potential for confusion and error.

💡Gravitational Physics

Gravitational physics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of the force of gravity and its effects on objects. In the video, the concept is mentioned in relation to the courses offered by Brilliant, which aim to teach about orbital mechanics. The Mars Climate Orbiter's failure is a direct result of not accounting for gravitational forces correctly, emphasizing the critical role gravitational physics plays in space missions and the necessity for a thorough understanding of these principles.

💡Orbital Mechanics

Orbital mechanics is the study of the motions of celestial bodies in space, including the calculations required to send objects into orbit around planets. The video touches on this concept when discussing the failure of the Mars Climate Orbiter, which was unable to achieve the correct orbit due to incorrect thruster data. Understanding orbital mechanics is essential for space agencies like NASA to successfully launch and manage satellites and other spacecraft.

💡Brilliant.org

Brilliant.org is an online platform mentioned in the video that offers educational courses and challenges in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The video suggests that learning from such platforms can help individuals avoid similar mistakes to the one made by NASA and improve their understanding of complex subjects like orbital mechanics. The platform is presented as a resource for those who want to delve deeper into the sciences and engineering, possibly preventing costly errors through education.

💡Real-life Law

Real-life Law is the channel or entity that produced the video script provided. The video uses the story of the Mars Climate Orbiter to teach a broader lesson about the importance of attention to detail and the consequences of errors in scientific and engineering fields. The channel seems to focus on real-world applications and lessons from historical events to educate and inform its audience.

Highlights

A math error in 1999 led to the destruction of a NASA satellite, costing hundreds of millions of dollars.

The metric system was first invented in France in the 1790s to bring order to the chaos of different measurement systems.

Napoleon spread the metric system across Europe as he conquered territories.

Germany and Italy, which were collections of independent countries, adopted the metric system for ease of trade and standardization.

By the 19th century, most European countries had adopted the metric system, with the UK and Ireland being late adopters.

The United States has had a complicated relationship with the metric system, with the government adopting it but much of the population still using the customary system.

NASA's Mars satellite disaster was due to a failure to convert measurements from pounds to the metric system.

Lockheed Martin, a subcontractor for NASA, used pounds instead of the metric system as specified by NASA.

NASA engineers assumed the data provided by Lockheed Martin was in the metric system, leading to a fatal miscalculation.

The satellite was destroyed upon arrival at Mars due to incorrect thruster data, which was in pounds instead of the expected metric units.

The mistake underscored that even highly-trained professionals can make simple errors with significant consequences.

The incident serves as a lesson in the importance of double-checking measurements and the potential for human error.

Brilliant.org offers courses and challenges to help individuals learn complex subjects like physics and mathematics.

Learning from mistakes is emphasized as a way to improve and avoid repeating the same errors.

The video encourages viewers to educate themselves on scientific and mathematical concepts through online platforms like Brilliant.org.

The video concludes with an offer for the first 500 viewers to get 20% off a premium subscription to Brilliant.org.

Transcripts

this video was made possible by

brilliant learn complex subjects simply

at brilliant org slash real-life floor

math is hard but at least you probably

have never made a math mistake that cost

her company hundreds of millions of

dollars in damages not everybody can be

so lucky as you though you see back in

1999 NASA tried getting a satellite into

orbit around Mars but it caught on fire

and blew up immediately when it arrived

they traced the problem back to a single

math error that was probably caused by a

small group of people who would all

probably be jealous of whatever the

biggest mistake that you think you've

ever made was but in order to understand

how the math error was made and why it

costs so much money and time we need to

take a history lesson in communist units

also known as the metric system before

the metric system the world was ruled by

chaos and everybody used a different

system for measuring things based on

whatever the hell they felt like

basically but all of that too began to

change in France where the metric system

was first invented in the 1790s when the

people decided to invent a new system

that you know actually made some sense a

guy named Napoleon came around and

started conquering stuff in spreading

the metric system around like it was

some kind of disease Germany and Italy

were both made up of a bunch of

different independent countries at the

time who each used their own different

crazy forms of measuring things and that

was difficult for one simple reason

imagine for a moment that you live in

Bavaria and you need to trade a bag of

potatoes for a pig with some guy in

Prussia you weigh your potatoes in units

of Toyota Corollas well the guy you're

trading with in Prussia not only doesn't

know what the hell that even is but he

also measures things by weighing them in

units of the clay brick that some keying

a hundred years ago decided was the

standard that is confusing and if you

throw in even more weirdos with their

other weird systems of weighing things

you can see how it gets even worse

so trading with people sucks but what if

we could just abandon our own systems

and all just use a brand-new system of

measuring things that we all will have

in common and we'll all have to learn so

it's fair I don't know that sounds like

communism set England but I don't know

that sounds pretty great said Germany

and Italy

who both promptly adopted it after

France and so metric became the hot new

fad across Europe and it spread from

there to all of their colonies which was

basically everywhere France Spain

Portugal Germany Italy the Netherlands

Austria and the Ottomans all adopted

metric in the 19th century but other

countries took a little bit longer

Russia adopted it in 1918 after the

Russian Revolution Japan and China

picked it up in the 1920s in India

picked it up basically right after they

got independence from Britain by the

1960s every country in Europe had

adopted the metric system except for the

United Kingdom and Ireland the

english-speaking world has always been

the slowest community in the world to

adopt metric mostly because we think

that the English invented units of

pounds and inches and yards makes more

sense for some reason and also because

the English invented that system and not

the gross French anyway the UK finally

said fine in 1965 and caved in an

adopted metric Ireland followed suit a

few years later as did New Zealand

Australia and finally Canada in 1973 by

the current year in 2019 every single

country in the entire world except for

three of them have adopted the metric

system and those three are Myanmar

Liberia and the United States which is

the last english-speaking country

holdout that hasn't caved in yet the

metric system has had a rather

complicated history in the United States

the federal government adopted it as the

official system of measurement for the

military and government agencies back in

1975 but the vast majority of people and

private businesses still to this day use

the English customary system and this is

where the history lesson leads us back

to the engineering disaster in 1999 as a

US federal government agency nASA uses

the metric system to conduct all of

their business but as a private business

their subcontractor Lockheed Martin was

still using the customary system NASA

explicitly specified in their contract

that all of their subcontractors had to

convert their measurements into metric

but apparently Lockheed Martin looked at

that and then decided that they wouldn't

Lockheed Martin designed and built the

satellite but they provided NASA

years at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

with data from the onboard thrusters in

units of force in pounds rather than in

the metric mutants the NASA engineers

looked at Lockheed's data for the

thrusters notice that it didn't say

anywhere hey guys

customary units here and so they assumed

that it was all in metric and just

carried on the satellite was launched

without anybody noticing that and after

ten months of traveling and over three

hundred and twenty seven million dollars

being spent on the mission or five

hundred and twenty three million dollars

in today's money more than the combined

annual salaries of nine thousand average

Americans the satellite was destroyed in

a matter of seconds the satellite was

supposed to orbit Mars at a distance of

150 kilometers but because of the

conversion error in the thrusters it

actually descended down to just 57

kilometers above the Martian surface and

proceeded to burn up in the atmosphere

the lesson here is that math is equally

difficult for everyone and even

highly-trained scientists and engineers

at the highest levels of their

professions can sometimes make the

simplest of mistakes that cause

unbelievable amounts of damage the good

news is that there's always a lesson in

a mistake you always learn how not to do

it the next time and true to form NASA

hasn't made a conversion error this

catastrophic ever since so there's no

reason to feel ashamed if math and

engineering are concepts that you want

to be better at but you're struggling

with right now I'm certainly not a

scientist nor an engineer but I am a fan

of both disciplines and I love learning

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so if you're feeling inspired and you

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time and as always thank you for

watching

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