Without the braking rockets, the craft fell from about 130 feet and was destroyed.
These two mission failures were due to problems with software, and wasted about $180 million
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4522291.stm).
One can argue that the problems were not with the software but with the humans who created the software.
That way of looking at the problem focuses attention on the responsibility of the engineers. That is why these
failures are properly reviewed in a chapter on the ethics and the social issues of computing.
With software controlling pacemakers, automobile engine controls, antilock brake systems, missile targeting,
medical equipment, driverless transports, elevators, robotic equipment, and industrial processes, when software
fails, the results can be fatal. One example is the overexposure to radiation suffered by cancer patients in
Panama during 2000.
During November of 2000, 28 people being treated for cancer at the National Cancer Institute in Panama
were accidentally exposed to much more radiation than prescribed. At least five died of the experience, and
many of the others risked ???serious radiation-related complications??? from excessive exposure to radiation,
according the the US FDA (http://www.
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