NASA Engineer at Black Hat: Take Risks, But Do Not Fail | Linux Today

NASA Engineer at Black Hat: Take Risks, But Do Not Fail

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Aug 2, 2013

Brian Muirhead is quite literally a rocket scientist who helped lead an era in technology that has enabled NASA to land increasingly sophisticated robotic technology on the surface of Mars. It’s a process that taught him a lot about what it takes to innovate and succeed.

Muirhead told the Black Hat crowd that when he was tasked with helping to lead the Mars Pathfinder mission to land a rover on the Red Planet, his boss told him, “I want you to take risks, but do not fail.”

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

Linux Today Logo

LinuxToday is a trusted, contributor-driven news resource supporting all types of Linux users. Our thriving international community engages with us through social media and frequent content contributions aimed at solving problems ranging from personal computing to enterprise-level IT operations. LinuxToday serves as a home for a community that struggles to find comparable information elsewhere on the web.

Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2026 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.