Indian moon shot fails

Wayfarer September 08, 2019 at 05:23 1875 views 4 comments

here is one amongst a number of stories.

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Ground crew coming to terms with mission failure.

I always really feel for the project teams in these cases. They spend years and years building the systems, training, 80 hour weeks, and a lot of it intensely skilled intellectual work. Hey, it *is* rocket science. And then they loose the bird. What do all those engineers and project staff do then? All the rosters for running and monitoring the mission - gone. Look for new work? It must be incredibly depressing. Heart goes out to all of them.

Comments (4)

TheMadFool September 08, 2019 at 06:39 #325860 0 likes

Sorry but the there's still tomorrow.

ssu September 08, 2019 at 09:08 #325882 0 likes

Every space program has it's good days and bad ones. Even going to the Moon can be difficult, with other planets (Mars is the real probe eater) it's even more difficult.

Another day in the office... as long as politicians understand the importance and aren't keen on slashing the budgets to where nothing actually can be done.

(Just look at the numbers of failed probes to Mars: )
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Shamshir September 08, 2019 at 09:49 #325888 0 likes

There's many bumps with every climb - this is just one.

Wayfarer September 08, 2019 at 10:51 #325900 0 likes

The particular problems with space programs are that: first, they take enormous amounts of money. There might not be another chance for a lot of the individuals, or the program director and other key personnel. Space programs are risky and expensive, and when they fail, governments are going to think twice about having another shot.

Second - I've worked on a lot of project teams - really small-scale compared to space programs, but still. But I've never been in a situation where the whole project suddenly suffers a 100% loss. And that's what happens in these cases. Yes, there's work to do on the post-mortem, figuring out what went wrong - but there's going to be a huge number of individuals whose plans for the immediate future just went up in flames. It must be a very empty feeling.

So, yes, another day, everyone can have another go, and all. But still....

Quoting ssu

Just look at the numbers of failed probes to Mars: )

Interesting chart! I suppose it is a very risky business, but I just really felt for this particular team, as it was such a big deal for India and all.