单选题 Just three weeks before Polar Lander was set to arrive at Mars, a NASA panel issued its report on the Climate Orbiter failure in September. The prime cause of that disaster, as everyone now knows, was a truly dumb mistake. The spacecraft's builder, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, provided one set of specifications in old-fashioned English units, while its operators at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory were using metric.
But the report also uncovered management problems that let the mistake go undiscovered,including poor communication between mission teams, poor training and inadequate staffing. Indeed, the navigation team was seriously overworked, trying to run three missions at once.
Because the Polar Lander was also built by Lockheed Martin, and because it was to use Climate Orbiter as a communications relay, the panel looked into that probe too, finding the same weak management. "A recurring theme in the board's deliberations," reads the report, "was one of 'Who's in charge?' It also raised questions about the probe's landing technology, which was complex, risky and largely untested.
With Polar Lander nearing its final plunge, NASA promised to respond to the concerns, and the agency did address a couple of them. But by then, the die was largely cast. Maybe the lander was done in by something unforeseeable--a badly placed boulder, perhaps, or a crevasse--hich no probe could have avoided. And given the complexities of getting a spacecraft to Mars and having it work properly, it's no surprise that something should go bad.
One of the big advantages to the faster-cheaper-better approach, in fact; is that when probes inevitably do fail, the loss is relatively small. Mars Observer, which vanished without a trace just before Coldin took office, cost the nation more than $1 billion, Climate Orbiter and the Polar Lander have set taxpayers back only $319 million between them. "We launched 10 spacecraft in 10 months," said Coldin. "We used to launch two a year. We have to be prepared for failure if we're going to explore."
Even NASA's critics agree that doing things faster, better and cheaper makes sense--if it's done right. Says Pike: "This should provide an opportunity for a midcourse correction. ' Some sort of correction may already be under way. Coldin has launched a new investigation to look into the Polar Lander loss, and NASA chief of space science Edward Weiler said last week the agency would rethink its ambitious schedule of sending multiple missions to Mars every 26 months through 2007. After years of tipping the other way, "better" may finally be getting the same attention as "faster" and "cheaper" in NASA's mind-set.

单选题 According to the report issued by a NASA panel, the main cause of the Climate Orbiter failure was______.
A. the spacecraft's builder should not have used old-fashioned English units
B. the operators at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory were using metric
C. a truly dumb mistake
D. the inconsistency of the units between the spacecraft's builder and the operators at the Laboratory

单选题 From the report we can also learn that______.
A. there was something wrong with the management system
B. the NASA panel was overworked
C. the spacecraft's builder was in poor communication with the operators
D. the navigation team tried to run three missions at once

单选题 In the third paragraph, the panel's investigation also showed that______.
A. the Polar Lander was poorly built by Lockheed Martin and largely untested
B. it did not use Climate Orbiter as a communications relay
C. the probe's management often came across the problem about who was in charge
D. the probe's landing technology was simple, weak and risky

单选题 The statement"... the die was largely cast" (para 4) most probably means______.
A. when probes did fail, the loss was relatively small
B. most of the problems were already solved
C. no probe could have avoided something unforeseeable
D. there was no turning back by then

单选题 What is the main message of this text?
A. We have to be prepared for failure if we're going to explore.
B. It's no surprise that something should go bad.
C. Faster, cheaper spacecraft are always better.
D. The agency would rethink is ambitious schedule of sending multiple missions to Mars.