From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,f039470e8f537101,start X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-07-20 19:09:16 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!newsmi-us.news.garr.it!NewsITBone-GARR!news.mailgate.org!newsfeed.icl.net!newsfeed.fjserv.net!proxad.net!usenet-fr.net!enst.fr!not-for-mail From: "Alexandre E. Kopilovitch" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Ariane5 FAQ Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2003 06:10:01 +0400 (MSD) Organization: h w c employees, b f Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: marvin.enst.fr Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: avanie.enst.fr 1058753355 17003 137.194.161.2 (21 Jul 2003 02:09:15 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@enst.fr NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2003 02:09:15 +0000 (UTC) To: comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org Return-Path: X-Mailer: Mail/@ [v2.44 MSDOS] X-BeenThere: comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.2 Precedence: list List-Id: comp.lang.ada mail to news gateway List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:40532 Date: 2003-07-21T06:10:01+04:00 Recently there was proposition to create FAQ for Ariane 5 case. I even started to do that that time. And today I got the final impulse: my daughter told me that she just watched TV program "Discovery" where the crash of Ariane 5 was explained - yes, as you may expect, there was software error, human factor, one programmer mistakenly wrote something, and the rocket explodes. Now I took the case personally -;) , and completed the first draft of the FAQ. Here it is: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q. Was Ada language somehow related to Ariane 5 crash in 1996? A. Yes, at least some components of the Ariane 5 software was written in Ada language. Q. Did that software cause the crash? A. Yes and No. They simply put the software written for previous model -- Ariane 4 (where it worked well) -- to new Ariane 5, and did not bother themselves with testing it on the new rocket before the launch. So, when the Ariane 4 software appeared (in the flight) incompatible with new Ariane 5 they became very surprised -- and blamed the software. Q. But media told us that there was an error in the software that caused that crash. Is it right? A. No, it is wrong. There was no such an error in the software. The software worked perfectly for the purpose, for which it was created, that is, for Ariane 4. The software was not created for Ariane 5, and there were no reasons to expect that it should work for this new rocket. So, the error, which caused the crash was blinded use of a software created for another job. And this error was severely aggravated by subsequent error -- skipping mandatory test procedure before the first flight. Q. Where I can find official report for the investigation of the Ariane 5 crash? A. At the moment of writing this FAQ this report was, for example. at: http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/pxs/Book/ariane5rep.html But read it to the end, because your overall impression will probably be different (and wrong) if you stop in the middle of it, deciding that you got it all clear enough. Q. Where this topic was discussed in depth? A. For example, in comp.lang.ada newsgroup (several times). Search that newsgroup for "Ariane 5", and you'll find several threads discussing this topic (most recent at the moment of writing this FAQ was quite long thread with subject line "Boeing and Dreamliner"). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------