>\Sounds like the sort of programmers who are inclined to blame "cosmic rays" for odd behavior that they don't understand.
In fairness, they go out of their way to harden they computers against cosmic rays. I am sure that they make a decision about what an acceptable amount of cosmic ray induced error is, and design the system knowing that it will happen. Having said that, I agree that having unexplained problems on the ground should get an explanation before being launched. Even if it was a hardware glitch, they should either have told the hardware people that there was a glitch, or the level of error was within the designed for range and they should not have been suprised when it happened in space.
I didn't mean they were blaming cosmic rays. I've worked with completely terrestrial programmers who are prone to blaming "cosmic rays" or "compiler bugs" for their own mistakes... and the claim that the Pathfinder engineers chalked up the reset to a "hardware glitch" reminded me of those sorts of rationalizations.
In further fairness, Pathfinder's name was also its job description. It was built on a relative shoestring and in a way, fulfilled its most important function the moment Sojourner rolled onto Martian soil. It was basically a combination prototype/advance scout.
In fairness, they go out of their way to harden they computers against cosmic rays. I am sure that they make a decision about what an acceptable amount of cosmic ray induced error is, and design the system knowing that it will happen. Having said that, I agree that having unexplained problems on the ground should get an explanation before being launched. Even if it was a hardware glitch, they should either have told the hardware people that there was a glitch, or the level of error was within the designed for range and they should not have been suprised when it happened in space.