Uploaded Software Patch Killed Mars Probe

Please! Everyone! Try to keep the Microsoft jokes to a minimum! NASA has reported that a SOFTWARE PATCH uploaded to the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft in June 2006 directly caused its failure some five months later. Because of the patch, the spacecraft entered a special "error mode" and reoriented itself. The new position exposed one of the batteries to the sun, which fried it like a Dell laptop. The Surveyor had ten good years, though, the longest any probe has spent studying Mars.