Next, I was just thinking of the media frenzy which will follow this mission as it gets closer to landing. The press will be examining everything in a close-up mode, ad nauseum.

And, I don’t think anyone will deny this is a complicated landing, requiring a lot of software and hardware to function perfectly. Absolutely perfectly. I’m thinking of Neil Armstrong and Eagle. It took an intervention to prevent catastrophe, even though the hardware worked well. Some of the software maybe not so much.

So much can go wrong, in spite of the best efforts of very good people with large budgets, and if it does go wrong it will be in front of a lot of folks and a lot of critics. I don’t envy them that part of their jobs. Even a little bit. I can see it now.

Reporter – “Dr. Smith, what happened to the rover.”

Dr. Smith – “Well, Dan, we encountered high turbulence in the Martian atmosphere with much more moisture than usual. One of the thrusters stuck open. The other thrusters compensated for it until the stuck unit ran out of fuel, and then it crashed.”

R – “Didn’t you know about the possibility of turbulence and moisture? I mean, isn’t that a predictable condition?

Dr. – “Yes, we did, and it’s a very rare occurrence. We had to take that chance, as we had to take many chances on this and every mission.”

R – “But Doctor, isn’t that your job? I mean these days almost anyone, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, French, British and so on, can design an average Mars mission. But isn’t your job to protect the lander from the unusual circumstances, especially as they are not that unusual, as you’ve said.”

Dr. – “Yes, and our contingency plans are extensive. All of these designs are trade-offs. We have to factor in the odds, the weight, the cost, and then make our best determinations.

R – “Thank you, Doctor. There you have it folks, NASA did not deem it cost-effective to take every precaution to protect this $2 billion mission from disaster. The Project Manager, Dr. H. Avery Smith, has just told us that while the danger was a known factor, and it was ignored. The result is the catastrophe we have experienced today. It’s a very sad day for America, the world and the future of interplanetary exploration which could have been prevented if only Dr. Smith and his crew had taken reasonable precautions against a known threat to the mission. Back to you in the studio, Hans.”