Macs In Space!

Clark writes " SpaceViews reports that the startup company SkyCorp will fly an Apple Macintosh G4 computer in an experimental satellite next year. It will be deployed from the space shuttle. The server will be accessed as the sat passes in range via wireless networking protocols, including a variant of Apple's existing AirPort wireless networking technology. The project, announced at the recent Silicon Valley Space Enterprise Symposium, is mainly intended as a test for Skycorp's plans to assemble and deploy satellites at the Space Station."

Comments

Couple Questions...

[Chagrin]

1) How do they manage to transmit back to earth? There's nothing even remotely comparable to an antennae or dish on that thing.

2) How do they handle the altitude adjustments that the Iridium satellites were so dependent on? Similarly, if they expect these things to fly in a cluster (constellation), won't this impose a few difficulties?

Re:Rad-hard?

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like you're thinking of the UV protection provided by the ozone layer, and you're right insofar as a satelite would have to be beyond that.

UV isn't a problem for a satelite however - other radiation definitely is. Fortunately the orbit should still be within the van-allen belt which owes its existence to the earths magnetic field; most of the radiation except for visible light will thus be kept from harming the satelite or the G4 mac.

Munitions Grade Computers in Space?

[pjammer]

Since G4 processors are classified as "munitions" according to US export laws, will the these suckers count as orbiting weapons? Perhaps THIS was the antimissle 'Star Wars' program dubya was talking about. Uh oh, I blew the cover. There's the doorbell ... gotta go... NSA?! AAAaaargh!!!!!!

-- If the blues don't kill you, brother, they'll make you a mighty, might man.
- John Hamilton, Pursuit Ballistics

News from the Slashdot Frontlines...

[The_Messenger]

I thought it was time to write a sequel to "News from the Linux Frontlines".

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Ask Slashdot: What's this Linux thing?
Posted by emmett on Monday June 12, @12:20AM
from the i-just-like-the-penguin dept

NewbieLuser asks, "I'm pretty good using Micro$oft Windoze, but I've heard about this Lunix thing, and now I want to escape the EVIL EMPIRE and be a l337 h4X0r like you guys here at SlashDot. So I ordered a copy of "Red Hat 62", but my question is, what is it? What does it do? Can I install it from WIndows, or do I have to open up a DOS-box? (Ew! DOS is hard!)"

New Cracking Tool: SlashDoS
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from the i-0wn-j00 dept

Slashdot has long been envied by 5cr1p7 k1dd13z for its ability to kill any webserver within five minutes of a link being posted to the front page. Now these l337 k1dd13z can harness the power of Slash, without having to learn all that hard Perl stuff! I am proud to announce the 1.0 release of SlashDoS! Update: CT: I know, I know, it's not Freshmeat!

Microsoft Spokesmen Diss Jackson's Momma
Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday June 11, @10:59PM
from the damn-thats-cold dept

Today Microsoft Corporation responded to Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's rulings by calling his mother a "fat bitch" and a "stank-ass hoe". One spokesman is quoted as saying, "Yeah, yeah, dat bitch got such a fat ass, dat when she sits around the house, she really be sittin' around the house!!" Fellow Microsoft spokesmen agreed with this analysis of Ms. Jackson's buttocks, giving each other "high-fives" and passing around a bottle of malt liquor.

Former Microsoft CEO William Gates refused to comment on these statements, other than noting that "Ms. Jackson, while perhaps not a huge muthafuckin bitch, ain't all that skinny, ya know what I'm sayin'."

Jackson is reportedly preparing a counter-statement in which Gates' mother is said to freely engage in promiscuous oral sex.

Transmeta Receives Round of Handjobs from Rob Malda
Posted by Hemos on Sunday June 11, @10:507PM
from the he-also-blows-quite-well dept

Transmeta Inc, employer of Linux frontman Linus Torvalds, received a round of handjobs from our own CmdrTaco earlier this week. Malda, who was always eager to post any Slashdot article mentioning the CPU designer, last week stated his intent to go "all the way". "It's obvious that I am sexually aroused by just the mention of the amazing company. I vow not to rest until I have brought each staff member to orgasm with my own two hands." The handjobs were eagerly accepted by Transmeta, whose engineers aren't too picky about their sexual partners.

Famed Hacker "Neo" Constructs Eight-dimensional Beowulf Cluster
Posted by Roblimo on Sunday June 11, @10:45PM
from the so-how-do-we-eat-soup? dept

"Neo", an underground hacker guru well known for his escape of the artificial world in which we all are trapped while our life is sucked away to feed a never-ending horde of robot-monsters, today unleashed a new weapon in his battle against the Agents: an eight-dimensional Beowulf cluster, codenamed "BW8". Slashdot has obtained an exclusive interview with "Neo". Here is an excerpt:

Slashdot: Of course, you realize that no-one has ever done this before.

Neo: That's why it's going to work. [pauses] And of course it works. It runs Linux(tm).

SD: VA Linux has announced their intention to sponsor this project, by donating lots of hardware. Comments?

N: Whoa...

SD: What do you plan to do with the machines after we've won our freedom from our mechanical oppressors?

N: Well, I was thinking that it would make a really rad Quake III server.

SD: Why do you fight, Neo?

N: Well, obviously, to allow people to live normal lives again. Being trapped in a fantasy world while your bioenergy is drained, like, sucks. Hey, do you know where I can get a Yopy? Those things kick ass.

(Read More)

FreeBSD Merchandise on sale NOW!!
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from the this-is-slashdot-journalism? dept

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Jon Katz Finishes Pillaging of Slashdot Community
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from the man-i-really-screwed-you! dept

Well folks, it's time to say goodbye. I've completed my goal of infiltrating your community, playing on your sympathies by defending geeks, and gaining your trust, and now that I've gotten rich by stealing your comments and publishing them as a book (accompanied by my own lame analysis), I'm done with you losers. I'll probably spend the next few years pushing down children at Disney World and stealing their money. (Click below, if you feel worthy of reading more of my godlike opinions, you scum.)

Your Rights Online: Internet Banned
Posted by jamie on Sunday June 11, @10:39PM
from the xfiles-is-a-documentary dept

Okay, okay, the Internet wasn't really banned, but we can't trust those Government types, so who knows when it will happen?! So what will we do when the Internet gets banned? Also, perhaps we should discuss the eventual hostile takeover of Earth by the Greys. (Read More)

News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters
Posted by timothy on Sunday June 11, @10:37PM
from the slashdot.org dept

Linux? XFree86 apache perl free-speech. Computer cases, Microsoft DMCA penguin hard disk. LiViD! Robots, corel debian stallman. ESR java athlon? PNG mozilla mars, battlefield earth OpenBSD beowulf cluster, python NSA hacker Quake III. Transmeta, gnome. UK virus windows; Playstation celeron Star Wars. First post.

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DANGER!!

[Tarkwyn]

Not a good move! It's only a matter of time until some disheartened, but incredibly lucky mathematician and a cocky yet loveable figher pilot get ensconced in a governmental global-protection scheme, borrow some alien vehicle and UPLOAD A VIRUS!

Everyone knows that Macs are the best way to bring down a space station :)

--

Rad-hard?

[MaineCoon]

I wonder how they will be dealing with radiation. The G4 isn't rad-hard by any means.

Are satellites even subjected to the radiation of space? I suppose it depends on altitude, but as far as I am aware, satellites are beyond any radiation-protecting layers of atmosphere, and thus exposed to the radiation of space.

- MaineCoon

Thank goodness the neutrality of Space is...

[Netsnipe]

...protected by International Law and I think, also by several UN resolutions. If the Sealand data haven is ever thwarted by the Royal British Navy, then the project managers could always look towards earth orbiting servers within satellites as internationally neutral havens for sensitive data.

However, this brings up another issue. Can nations on Earth who do have legal jurisdiction over the satellite base stations within their territory, be able to impose sanctions against, or intercept data transfers being made from these satellite servers? Will intelligence agencies (such as the CIA) start manufacturing military satellites that will be able to perform Denial of Service attacks on other satellite servers or perform even more sinister acts such as hacking and EMP attacks?

The possibility of satellite servers will surely usher another new age in the war for and against the lack of national jurisdiction over data on the internet.

Re:Please.

[torpor]

They're not 'normal', dude.

They're usually 6 or 7 years behind the rest of the computer industry in terms of processing power, because of the complexities required to keep a processor running in space - by the time all the other 'packaging' problems have been solved for a specific processor to fly in space, processor design has moved on - so you end up with older Intel and Motorola chips being used in current modern satellite programs.

This is evident in the Shuttle, for example - they're still using IBM Thinkpad 486 laptops in the shuttle, because these are the only ones that have undergone the stress testing required by NASA to endure the flight ... and only just recently was a Pentium processor even used.

I believe the Shuttle itself uses much simpler processors - I don't know the details, but I am under the impression that a lot of the compute systems on the Shuttle are using processors from the mid-80's, such as the Mot 68k, Intel 386/486's, etc.

So, the point of all this, is that it's actually exciting that a company is considering using a *modern* computing platform for space experiments. My first impulse when reading this article, in fact, was to wonder just what is the fastest/most powerful processor that's ever made it into space - perhaps this G4 will be it. Who knows?