A Bug and a Crash

It took the European Space Agency 10 years and $7 billion to produce Ariane 5, a giant rocket capable of hurling a pair of three-ton satellites into orbit with each launch and intended to give Europe overwhelming supremacy in the commercial space business.

All it took to explode that rocket less than a minute into its maiden voyage last June, scattering fiery rubble across the mangrove swamps of French Guiana, was a small computer program trying to stuff a 64-bit number into a 16-bit space.

Read more after clicking on the image.

Image copyright @ Jim Frazier. @ haha.nu

Related posts:

1. Rocket crash A rocket carrying a $45 million military satellite. And it...
2. Voyage through the solar system The universe is mostly empty space. Even in a “crowded”...
3. Laser powered spacecrafts Dr. Lake Mirobo from New Mexico, USA imagines spacecrafts propelled...
4. A rocket explosion A Delta II rocket explodes in Cape Canaveral in 1998,...
5. The second moon Are there more moons around our Earth? Click to find...