Hélène Huby's spacecraft encountered a failure when its parachutes did not deploy, resulting in a crash into the ocean. Despite this setback, the mission was largely deemed successful due to its low cost of under $25 million and completion of 80% of its objectives. An independent investigation revealed a parachute deployment issue linked to the spacecraft's mechanism. Huby acknowledged underestimating risks by foregoing drop tests to save time and money. The company is now evaluating its future steps following this incident.
"What was interesting is the feedback I got in Europe. The German Space Agency, the French space agency, the European Space Agency said, OK, that's a great achievement. For the time and money we spent, performing 80 percent of that mission was a good investment."
"We made a mistake, basically, to underestimate the risks. In retrospect, we could have done more testing on the ground."
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