Mars Climate Orbiter

1. Mars Climate Orbiter Team Magna Corp: Tim Toba Mohamed Sahil Nyema Johnson Abner Yemaneab University of Minnesota

2. Agenda Team Magna Corp. • Introduction – Mohamed Sahil • Scope – Mohamed Sahil • Time Management – Abner Yemaneab • Cost Management – Nyema Johnson • Project Management – Tim Toba • Questions?

3. Introduction • NASA started Mars Surveyor Program in 1993. • Mars Climate Orbiter was launched on Dec. 11, 1998. • Mars Polar Lander was launched on Jan. 3, 1999.

4. Scope Management of the Mars Climate Orbiter

5. Scope • Develop and launch two spacecrafts to Mars during the 1998 Mars transfer opportunity. • Development cost was estimated at $183.9 Million. • Collect and return to Earth, science data resulting from the water and remote investigations of the Martian environment by the Lander.

6. Scope • Orbiter should act as a relay station for five years. • Assist in data transmission to and from the Mars Polar Lander. • Provide detailed information about the atmospheric temperature, dust, water vapor, and clouds on Mars. • Provide valuable information about the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in Mars.

7. Scope

8. Scope • A second spacecraft Mars Polar Lander will be launched. • Perform daily recording of the sound and images of Mars for one Martian year (687 days). • The Purpose of the mission is to gather atmospheric data of each of the seasons on Mars. • The mission's projected end date is December 1, 2004.

9. Scope

10. Time Management of the Mars Climate Orbiter

11. 02/07/94 12/01/2004 12/11/98 09/23/99 Launch & Cruise Orbiting Pre-Launch • Feb 7, 1994: Program Started. • May 1, 1995: Project Manager Named. • JPL names John B. McNamee manager of the newly-formed Mars Surveyor '98 Project. • May 8, 1995: Instrument Proposals Solicited. • Oct 20, 1995: Instruments Selected. • Dec 1, 1995: Project Scientist Named. • Richard Zurek • Jan 4, 1997: Orbiter Design Reviewed. • Aug 1, 1997 - Sep 30, 1998: Orbiter Assembled and Tested. • Feb 1, 1998: Lander and Orbiter Renamed. • Dec 11, 1998: Orbiter Launched.

12. 02/07/94 12/01/2004 12/11/98 09/23/99 Orbiting Launch & Cruise Pre-Launch • Dec 11, 1998: Lander Leaves Earth. • Dec 11, 1998 - Sept 11, 1999: Mars Orbiter Interplanetary Cruise. • Feb 3, 1999: New Management. • Richard A. Cook is the MSOP project manager. • September 1999, the spacecraft was to fire its main engine to achieve an elliptical orbit around Mars. • Sept. 23, 1999: The Mars Climate Orbiter mission was lost when it entered the Martian atmosphere on a lower than expected trajectory.

13. Faster, Better, Cheaper • Costs were reduced and program scope — including both content and the infusion of new technology — increased at the same time. • The the focus on cost and schedule reduction increased risk beyond acceptable levels on some NASA projects.

14. Mission Success First Schedule Recommendations: • Number One Priority Should be Mission Success over Cost and Schedule. • “bottoms up” budget and schedule should be developed. • The team should take ownership of the schedule • There should be adequate schedule slack available to solve problems. • Check if mission success has been compromised as a result of schedule?

15. Cost Management of the Mars Climate Orbiter

16. Cost • A total of $327.6 million was allocated for the Mars ’98 Project (which included the Mars Climate Orbiter and the Mars Polar Lander) • $193.1 million for spacecraft development, • $91.7 million for launch, and • $42.8 million for mission operations • $80M of the $193.1M went toward the building of the MCO spacecraft • $5M of the $42.8M used to operations the MCO

17. Cost • $35.5M went toward the launching of the MCO • Mission cost of the MCO totaled $120.5M • (36.8% of the total budget allotted to both missions) • The Independent Assessment Team charge with investigating the failure of the spacecrafts concluded that the ’98 Mars Project was at least 30% under-funded.

18. Project Management of the Mars Climate Orbiter

19. Project Management • JPL/Mr. John McNamee Project Manager for MCO and MPL • HQ/SD/Mr. Steven Brody MCO Program Executive NASA Headquarters • MSFC/DA01/Mr. Drew Smith Special Assistant to Center Director George C. Marshall Space Flight Center • HQ/SR/Dr. Charles Holmes Program Executive for Science Operations NASA Headquarters • HQ/QE/Mr. Michael Card Program Manager NASA Headquarters jmcnamee@mailhost4.jpl.nasa.gov

20. Project Management Existing Processes and Requirements • NASA has significant infrastructure of processes and requirements in place to enable robust program and project management, beginning with the capstone document: NASA Procedures and Guidelines 7120.5. • Many of these clearly have a direct bearing on mission success.

21. Project Management So What Went Wrong? Heart of Mission’s Navigation Mishap • Due to a conversion error in which commands to the spacecraft were sent in English units rather than metric units • Unofficially, the problem had been detected but due to politics between the development team and JPL, a fix was never deployed

22. Project Management • The official report cited the following “contributing factors” to the loss of the spacecraft • undetected errors in ground-based models of the spacecraft the • operational navigational team was not fully informed on the details of the way that Mars Climate Orbiter was pointed in space • a final, optional engine firing to raise the spacecraft’s path relative to Mars before its arrival was considered but not performed

23. Project Management Summary • One Technical Problem • failed conversion of unit • Many Process and Social Problems • No review (e.g. verification), insufficient training, informal processes in place, formal processes ignored • Led to a destroyed spacecraft

24. Questions ?

25. References • http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/links.html • http://mars4.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/mission_overview.html • http://www.xs4all.nl/~carlkop/marsclim.html • http://mars4.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/orbiter/