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From Our Readers: Morpheus' 'Failure Is A Good Thing'

When we reported the 'total loss' of NASA's moon lander Morpheus during testing, some readers expressed disappointment.

Sandra Chapin called it a 'bummer':

"To me the sad thing is not the loss of money, but the loss of time. How long will it take to redesign and build a new one? Puts us that much further behind in gathering data."

But others, like Christopher Dahle, were quick to point that "in the application and development of technology, failure is a good thing."

Dahle continues:

"Success means that we have stopped learning. When things break, we discover weaknesses and we fix them. These things need to be pushed to the breaking point and well past design expectations here on Earth, before we send them to the Moon or put people in them. The more we break it, the more we learn, and the better the final product will be."

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Marissa Alioto
KUER is listener-supported public radio. Support this work by making a donation today.