NASA failed missions: Know details of intriguing failed missions by NASA

National Aeronautics and Space Administration popularly known as the NASA has been making many significant developments in the field of science, technology, space exploration and much more. With many fans and aspirants, people around the world love to know about NASA's discoveries.

However, this incredible independent agency of the U.S. Federal Government has seen many failures in the past. If you have been wondering about NASA failed missions, then do not worry, here is all you need to know about them.

Popular failed missions of NASA

The Mars Polar Lander (MPL)

One of the most popular experiences of NASA is the Mars Polar Lander mission. It was in 1998 when the independent space agency opted for this mission to the red planet. The program consisted of a soil probe, a lander, and a satellite. The MPL was supposed to land on the Martial soil, and study the climate and surface of Mars.

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Deep Space 2

Deep Space 2 was also sent on Mars on the same spacecraft like the Mars Polar Lander. Deep Space 2 was created to work as a penetrator which was designed to burrow into the Martian soil and collect data on water and chemical composition. However, just like the MPL, what happened to Deep Space 2 remains a mystery. 

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Genesis

One of the most promising programs, Genesis was designed to catch pieces of the sun itself. This would help humanity to understand more about its home star and the original composition of the solar system. NASA launched Genesis into space to collect solar winds in specially designed sheets of gold, diamond and sapphire. However, the technological gadget worked perfectly for what it was designed to do.

But, there was a huge issue to bring Genesis back as it was too delicate to simply land. NASA had planned to catch the capsule in the air by hooking its parachute. Nevertheless, the parachute never deployed, and the satellite fell into the Utah desert. Surprisingly, scientists managed to recover some of the samples for testing.

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The Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO)

The Mars Climate Orbiter is considered to be the brains of the 1998 Mars Missions. NASA's MCO was designed to serve as a dual function of studying the Martian atmosphere. It also used to study radio signals from the two surface probes. Nevertheless, a small glitch in the system because the NASA subcontractor Lockheed Martin created thruster software that did not use the metric units. As the organisation was unaware of this issue, it failed to convert pounds to newtons, and MCO hit the atmosphere and burned itself up.

All Images / Promo Image / Info Credits ~ NASA

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