Engineering Means having to deal with failure Missions to Mars as an example of try, try, try again…

Engineering Means having to deal with failure

• Missions to Mars as an example of try, try, try again…

Flyby missions

Orbiters (and landers)

Landers Viking 1 and 2 (1975-76)

2001 Mars Odyssey

2003 Mars Exploration Rovers

List of missions to Mars

Missions to Mars, continued.

Success rate of all missions (to 2004)

• 30 missions

• 3 countries (US, USSR/Russia, Japan)

• 12 successful missions

• 38% success

• 68% failure (and more that were successful, but failed to complete all of their mission)

What did they have?

• Ph.D. (doctors of science)

• The best engineers in the world

• A lot of $$$

• Governmental support

• Decades of work going into some of the missions

So if you don’t feel like you are being successful, just remember that we aren’t NASA or the European Space Agency

• So if you don’t feel like you are being successful, just remember that we aren’t NASA or the European Space Agency

• We are building with toys (LEGO)

• We are brand new at this (whereas a doctor of science will have gone to college for at least 8 years.