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Published online 17 March 2000 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news000323-2
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Too darn hot
Why do carefully engineered systems sometimes fail catastrophically? Physicists have attempted to explain why no design is ever perfect, Philip Ball reports.
In June 1996, the French rocket Ariane 5 made its ignominious maiden flight. Thirty seconds after lift-off, the on-board computer controlling the rocket's trajectory went haywire, attempting such an abrupt change in course that the rocket simply fell apart.
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