Mars Orbiter crippled by calculation error

This article in CNN.com explains how a programming error crippled a Mars Orbiter that had traveled 286 days toward Mars. Lockheed engineers had done rocket thrust calculations using the English system of measures (feet and pounds), whereas NASA engineers had used metric measures (meters and kilograms). The resulting inconsistency caused the Orbiter's rockets to fire incorrectly and a $125 million effort was lost.

http://cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric.02/

Questions:

1. What characteristics of this situation made this particular data error more serious than most other data errors?

2. What could have caused the inconsistency between the different groups of engineers?

3. In what ways is it possible to apply this chapter's ideas about defining and evaluating information to understand this situation?

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