Software that was supposed to point the spacecraft solar panels toward the sun instead pointed them 180 degrees away from the sun.
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/26/nx-s1-5727622/nasa-lunar-trailblazer-moon-new-report-what-went-wrong
It took a year to figure this out.
A year.
To find out that the outsourced company in charge couldn’t even be bothered to test the product. They just happily pocketed $72 million of taxpayer dollars and laughed all the way to the bank.
Another symptom of a nation in decline…
M Thomas Apple Author Page 
March 7, 2026 at 4:47 pm
Not unlike the Mars probe that spectacularly crashed bc one of the lead engineers used SI instead of imperial velocity units.
Brings a whole new meaning to “rocket scientists.” 🧐
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March 7, 2026 at 7:59 pm
Yeah, that was ridiculously embarrassing. $125 million lost in 1999. https://www.simscale.com/blog/nasa-mars-climate-orbiter-metric/
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