Talk:NASA: Series of errors led to loss of Mars Global Surveyor

I see it as mostly human error, Doldrums. The programmers and controllers didn't anticipate that the orientation toward direct sunlight would overheat the batteries. No safeguards were in place to make sure the spacecraft remained "thermally safe". This programming mis-step allowed the failure to occur, and it could have been avoided. Jcart1534 14:51, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

i don't feel that is the case. i think "human error" refers to when the correct action is known, but the operating person does not do it or does something else. here, it appears that contingency plans for situations encountered were not there. in the context of law and medicine, for instance, for eg., [1] puts error as "a failure to perform an intended action which was correct given the circumstances" and accident as "an unplanned, unexpected, and undesired event, usually with an adverse outcome.". i think we shld not be using the term unless we can source it to the report. –Doldrums(talk) 15:24, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

Okay, I see your point. Lack of prevention isn't an error in this case. If the controllers followed protocol, then it shouldn't be labeled human error. Good job on the edits! :) Cheers, Jcart1534 16:01, 14 April 2007 (UTC)