Issue 1 - July 2000
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The space probe vanished soon after reaching Mars after a nine and a half month journey - all because NASA scientists overlooked a conversion of measurements from imperial to metric. The Mars Climate Orbiter had successfully flown 760 million miles with the error unnoticed but as soon as it began circling the planet the probe vanished. The mistake in calculations caused the satellite to burn up or break apart by moving too close to Mars. NASA were apparently given the units for acceleration in pounds of force (imperial) instead of newtons (metric). For those of you who are interested this is how to convert between the two units: Source:
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| maths news: from around the globe  |
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 Scientists suggest that David Seaman and Nigel Martyn should work hard at their geometry for part of their training. MORE |
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 A 2000 digit prime number was discovered recently by the head of mathematics at a Dublin College. MORE |
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 A retired statistician has invented a new scale for assessing the risks involved in various activities and has arrived at some interesting conclusions.. MORE |
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Visit the NCETM website for further maths news
NASA scientists crashed a £78 million space probe because they forgot to convert imperial units to metric. 
