I agree ToSeek,
It was a double fiasco of the highest order, made worse by the fact that the Mars Climate Orbiter, was a fully functioning craft & was lost due to two teams who could not communicate the simple fact that one was working in imperial measurements & the other in Metric measurements. Talk about not getting your sums right.
Mars Polar Lander, should never have launched without having that vital piece of software checked. How the hell could that happen?
We can accept failure due to natural causes, such as large boulders, steep slopes tipping the craft over, etc, these things are part of the risk associated with these endeavours, still upsetting, but it can be said, that we did our utmost.
But that double fiasco, was due to carelessness, lack of communication & in my opinion, a very shoddy way of management. Both missions could have & should have succeeded.
But looking more recently, beginning with Mars Odyssey, every NASA Mars craft has been spectacularly successful (the MERs for instance, lasted some 15 times their design life & continuing to operate very well).
Phoenix has been built with the same mindset as the MERs, thoroughly tested, well managed & beautifully engineered. More like the NASA we know & love.
I am quietly optimistic that Phoenix will land successfully.
Once again ToSeek, thank you very much.
Andrew Brown.