Controlling Space Satellites

Cainxinth writes "The New Scientist reports secure internet servers will blast-off into space for the first time on Thursday with a mission to get as beat up as possible. If the specially-toughened chips survive, they should allow future internet users to control satellites from their desktop." Sparc chips - interesting concept.

Comments

Misrepresentations abound

[bughunter]

This New Scientist article goes to great lengths to misrepresent the primary mission of the STRV satellites. New Scientist is by far one of the worst abusers of this sort of spin doctoring. Any link to a New Scientist story should be carefully reviewed before taken seriously.

Specifically, these aren't servers - they're testbeds using two Sun Sparc chips among dozens of other devices. All the devices are being evaluated for their tolerance to space radiation. Sure, these chips are used as server CPUs, but they're also useful in avionics and instrumentation. I wager they'll see much more use in the latter two roles.

It would have made an equally interesting and much more truthful article if the author had dug just a little deeper and described how challenging it is to make rad-hard electronics - how tiny details of IC layout can make a device susceptible to low levels of radiation... how the different types of radiation occur in different orbits... the different damage mechanisms for these different radation types... about the South Atlantic Anomaly... how the continuous spectrum of natural radiation is nearly impossible to reproduce in the laboratory, making this the only way to test materials, devices, and surfaces.

Orbital Lasers

[Barche]

Finally, the first step to bring Orbital Lasers to the masses. I've always dreamt of a site that would (perhaps even for a modest fee) allow you to scorch random parts of the world. Maybe laser control could be regulated in a way similar to the moderation system on this site.

Re:Orbital Lasers

[bonzoesc]

"Hooray! You got modded up to a 5. Here's the form field. Enter the coordinates of something you want to give a good healthy zap from orbit."

Actually, it could be linked to the poll system:
Who gets zapped?

• Bill Gates
• The head of the RIAA (name escapes me...)
• Jack Valenti, in charge of MPAA (?)
• CmdrTaco

Clothe yourself in aluminum foil like Bart Simpson on Focusyn and you're safe.

Tell me what makes you so afraid
Of all those people you say you hate

Wow, where do I sign up?

[sid_vicious]

And my mom thought I was wasting away all those hours I spent playing "Missile Command" on my Atari 2600...

You just wait until *I'm* put in charge of a nuclear death ray satellite. Momma would be so proud.

:)

pr0n in orbit

[Gefiltefish]

Great! This is just fabulous.

With internet servers going up in satellites, the next thing you know, the earth's orbit will be clouded with porn servers.