Algorithms · September 1999Gaffe level: Blunder
Lost on Mars Over Imperial Units
One team sent thruster data in pound-seconds; NASA's navigation software expected newton-seconds; nobody converted, and the $125M Mars Climate Orbiter dipped too low into the atmosphere and disintegrated. Humanity reached another planet and lost the spacecraft to a units mismatch. The metric system won that round.
Source: Science
A Belfast Surgical Robot Has Treated 130 Complex Cases Since May
Belfast City Hospital's Da Vinci 5 robotic platform for gynaecology has treated 130 patients needing complex surgery since its launch in May 2026, and the longest inpatient wait in Belfast Trust has fallen from seven years to three. A new 1.95 million pound investment in endometriosis services will expand the specialist centres and local care behind that progress.