Reviewers see red over recent Mars programs

NASA’s most recent missions to Mars failed because they were underfunded, managed by inexperienced people, and insufficiently tested.

Artist’s view of Mars Polar Lander, which NASA lost. NASA

That was the scathing message of a report recently delivered to the space agency and made public this week. The mantra of “faster, better, cheaper” promoted by NASA Administrator Dan Goldin in the early 1990s remains worthy, A.