On December 11, 1998, the Mars Climate Orbiter was launched on a 760 million mile journey to the Red Planet. On September 23, 1999, a final rocket firing was to put the spacecraft into orbit, but it disappeared. An investigation board concluded that NASA engineers failed to convert the rocket’s thrust from pounds force to newtons (the unit used in the guidance software), causing the spacecraft to miss its intended 140–150 km altitude above Mars during orbit insertion, instead entering the Martian atmosphere at about 57 km. The spacecraft was then destroyed by atmospheric stresses and friction at this low altitude. As chief NASA engineer on this mission, how do you react to the national outcry for such a foolish mistake?

a. Take all the blame yourself and resign.

b. Find the person responsible, and fire, demote, or penalize that person.

c. Make sure it doesn’t happen again by conducting a software audit for specification compliance on all data transferred between working groups.

d. Verify the consistent use of units throughout the spacecraft design and operations.

Suggested method: Apply the Fundamental Canons and fill in an Engineering Ethics Matrix.

Assume that on the surface of the Earth, g = 9.81 m/s² = 32.2 ft/s² (i.e., each to three significant figures). Make sure you are reporting the solution to the proper number of significant figures.