This is a case study at The Case Centre.

Once registered on their site search for Mission to Mars (A).

The description from their site

“This case is set in spring 2000, several months after two successive, failed missions to the planet Mars. Students are asked to evaluate the reasons for these failures in the context of NASA’s ‘Faster, Better, Cheaper’ program, which was initiated in 1992. They are also faced with the task of reconstructing a program for the exploration of Mars that considers the many uncertainties – political, financial, outcome related, and scientific – that can impact the program. Includes color exhibits. The teaching purpose is to evaluate the relationships between risk, budget, and schedule in the development of complex technology-based projects. To determine how a mechanism for learning across projects can best be implemented. To assess how a sequence of successive projects can be developed into a more robust program.”