the Ariane 5 Flight 501 failure

programmingops culture

The 1996 rocket explosion caused by reusing Ariane 4 software that overflowed a 16-bit conversion.

Forty seconds after launch, code carried over from the slower Ariane 4 tried to fit a 64-bit horizontal-velocity value into a 16-bit integer, the conversion overflowed, and the guidance computer shut down and took its backup with it, destroying the rocket and its payload. It is the textbook case for why unchecked numeric conversions and untested software reuse are dangerous.

Also known as: Ariane 501, Ariane 5 explosion, overflow disaster

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