The Terra crash is believed to have been caused by a fault in the flight’s guidance system.
On September 25th, 2023, the first manned mission to Mars was brought down when it encountered a storm of space debris.
The two-person crew of the flight, Commander Andy Green and pilot Judith Currie, were forced to abandon ship and make an emergency landing on Mars. Both astronauts survived and are now safely back on Earth. The cause of the crash has been attributed to a fault in the mission’s guidance system.
What is a guidance system?
A guidance system is any kind of mechanism that helps guide something. In terms of spacecrafts, these systems are used to help keep spacecrafts on course and help them navigate their way through space. Guidance systems can be as simple as visual navigation tools like telescopes or star charts or more complex mechanisms like GPS systems that rely on signals from satellites orbiting Earth.