2. The Mars Climate Orbiter (formerly the Mars Surveyor 98 Orbiter) was one of two spacecraft in the Mars Surveyor 98 program, the other being the Mars Polar Lander (formerly the Mars Surveyor 98 Lander). The two missions were to study the Martian weather, climate, and water and carbon dioxide badget in order to understand the reservoirs, behavior, and atmospheric role of volatiles and to warch for evidence of long-term and episodic climate changes. The Mars Climate Orbiter was destroyed when a navigation error caused the spacecraft to miss its intended 140-150 km altitude above Mars during orbit insertion, instead entering the Martian atmosphere at about 57 km. The spacecraft was destroyed by atmospherie stresses and friction at this low altitude. A review board found that some data was calculated on the ground in Imperial units (pound-seconds) and eported that way to the navigation team, who were expeeting the data in metric units (newton-seconds). Calculate the conversion between Newton-seconds and pound- seconds. (Hint: pound is the force of 1 slug being accelerated at 1 foot/see2, and 1 slug is 14.59 kg.) s. (Hint: 1 pound is the force of 1 slug being accelerated at 1 foot/see, and 1 slug Solution 1 newtons = 0.224808942443 pounds hence 1 newton -second = 0.224808942443 pounds -seconds.

1. 2. The Mars Climate Orbiter (formerly the Mars Surveyor 98 Orbiter) was one of two spacecraft
in the Mars Surveyor 98 program, the other being the Mars Polar Lander (formerly the Mars
Surveyor 98 Lander). The two missions were to study the Martian weather, climate, and water
and carbon dioxide badget in order to understand the reservoirs, behavior, and atmospheric role
of volatiles and to warch for evidence of long-term and episodic climate changes. The Mars
Climate Orbiter was destroyed when a navigation error caused the spacecraft to miss its intended
140-150 km altitude above Mars during orbit insertion, instead entering the Martian atmosphere
at about 57 km. The spacecraft was destroyed by atmospherie stresses and friction at this low
altitude. A review board found that some data was calculated on the ground in Imperial units
(pound-seconds) and eported that way to the navigation team, who were expeeting the data in
metric units (newton-seconds). Calculate the conversion between Newton-seconds and pound-
seconds. (Hint: pound is the force of 1 slug being accelerated at 1 foot/see2, and 1 slug is 14.59
kg.) s. (Hint: 1 pound is the force of 1 slug being accelerated at 1 foot/see, and 1 slug
Solution
1 newtons = 0.224808942443 pounds
hence 1 newton -second = 0.224808942443 pounds -seconds