Staff Data Scientist

In 1999 NASA lost contact with its Mars Climate Orbiter after a 9 month journey from Earth. It began its planned orbital insertion maneuver but went out of radio contact after passing behind Mars. While we may never know whether it was destroyed in the atmosphere or re-entered heliocentric space, we can draw the lesson that getting the details (in this case, units) right is critical, especially when shooting for the stars.

While Mercury’s cosmic journey may be more me