A Fatal Design's Single Bit

Posted by jburk to Mars Polar Lander at February 16, 2000 12:00 PM

However, during the actual Mars landing, the accidental setting of the ground-contact bit as soon as the legs unfolded would mean that later, when the lander cut itself loose from its chute and switched on its landing engines, it would instantly conclude that it had already landed and immediately switch the engines off again -- falling the remaining 1800 meters to the surface of Mars.