Notorious Software Errors

• Mariner 1 Venus Probe

• This probe, launched in July of 1962, veered off course almost immediately and had to be destroyed

• The problem was traced to the following line of Fortran code:

• • DO 5 K = 1. 3

• The period should have been a comma.

• An $18.5 million space exploration vehicle was lost because of this typographical error