What examples do you have of scientists not thinking things through?
Answers
Answer:
The Mars Climate Orbiter, built at a cost of $125 million, was a 338-kilogram robotic space probe launched by NASA on December 11, 1998 to study the Martian climate, Martian atmosphere, and surface changes. In addition, its function was to act as the communications relay in the Mars Surveyor ‘98 program for the Mars Polar Lander.
The navigation team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) used the metric system of millimeters and meters in its calculations, while Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, Colorado, which designed and built the spacecraft, provided crucial acceleration data in the English system of inches, feet, and pounds !! JPL engineers did not take into consideration that the units had been converted, i.e., the acceleration readings measured in English units of pound-seconds^2 for a metric measure of force called newton-seconds^2.
In a sense, the spacecraft was lost in translation . As Ajay Harish put it. Some one had not thought things through .
Edit as advised by Mr. Subramanian : In September of 1999, after almost 10 months of travel to Mars, the Mars Climate Orbiter burned and broke into pieces. All because the the measuring units had not been standardized end to end.
Answer:
There is a way of pointing multiple concentric mirrors in a concave so that each one is precisely pointed to magnify the sun’s rays in such a way that each combine to concentrate it into a focal point. Imagine using a magnifying glass to burn ants or what have you, except on an exponentially larger scale. Creating heat on a scale that incinerates objects within seconds, idle or mobile. They never were able to create something that would have any logical purpose outside militarily. Until now.
In the Nevada desert they have devised a way of using a number of sets of these creations all circulating and focused on the center point, the focal point being essentially a huge pot of water that gets hot enough to boil, creating steam, thus producing electricity. This is on a grand scale remember, so the heat this thing creates is thousands of degrees.
This thing is incinerating birds in flight. Literally zapping them out of the air as they fly across this perimeter of desert. All types of birds are being killed as it singes the feathers making flight impossible. It was caught on camera and looks like little puffs of smoke at first, then upon closer examination are in fact birds coming into contact with the intense heat coming from these mirrors.