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Nature 402, 721 (16 December 1999) | doi:10.1038/45366

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Learning lessons from NASA's failed science missions

Dave Hall1

  1. British National Space Centre, 151 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9SS, UK

The probable failure of NASA's Mars Polar Lander, coming so soon after the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter, will once again call into question the agency's policy of 'faster, better, cheaper' missions (Nature 402, 565; 1999). There is a perception that faster and cheaper is only achieved by taking undue risk.