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Shuttle Data Recorder May be Key to Accident

Posted by michael on from the aftermath dept.

DreamerFi writes "A flight data recorder from the space shuttle Columbia, recovered last week in East Texas, contains readings that continue 14 seconds later than any previously studied data. Those readings are likely to play a crucial role in determining the cause of the shuttle's catastrophic breakup on Feb. 1."

22 of 225 comments (clear)

  1. Amazing by Safety+Cap · · Score: 4, Funny
    ~ experts have been cleaning, stabilizing and analyzing the 9,400 feet of magnetic tape within.
    Seems that there is a use for old, reliable technologies, huh? :)

    Good thing they didn't use DVD-Rs or <cough> Windows Media Player...

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    Yeah, right.
    1. Re:Amazing by Czernobog · · Score: 2, Funny

      Jesus, haven't they heard of tar?

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      /. Where the truth
    2. Re:Amazing by addaon · · Score: 5, Funny

      Tar is good for preserving some data for a very long time. A good example is dinosaurs, although the technique has also been applied to various small mammals. The problem with using tar for something like the space shuttle missions is that the write bandwidth and latency are both very low. While the write bandwidth scales linear with the surface of the tar (and with the cube root of the volume of the tar), space missions are mass-limited and could carry only a very little tar. Also, the latency is a real issue, as most of the data stored during the mission would not have time to be fully written before the accident occured.

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      I've had this sig for three days.
    3. Re:Amazing by Eric_Cartman_South_P · · Score: 3, Funny
      The amazing thing about your post is that I could do a find-and-replace with "tar" and "Maxtor Hard Drives" and it would still make total sense.

  2. The truth is... by Randolpho · · Score: 3, Funny

    They weren't searching for the recorder, they just stumbled on it. No, they were out at Hemphill, TX for other reasons.... :D

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    "Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
    -Marilyn Manson
  3. misleading title? by carpe_noctem · · Score: 4, Funny

    Shuttle Data Recorder May be Key to Accident

    I somehow doubt that the data recorded caused the shuttle accident. Perhaps they mean to say "finding the CAUSE of the accident"? ;)

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    "Quoting famous computer scientists out of context is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming." - K
    1. Re:misleading title? by HorrorIsland · · Score: 5, Funny

      I dunno. Every time there is an accident involving air travel, one of those flight recorders is usually somewhere in the vicinity. I'm starting to get suspicious...

  4. Shuttle Data Recorder May be Key to Accident by GMontag · · Score: 5, Funny

    In other news: Water Suspected to be Wet

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    Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
    1. Re:Shuttle Data Recorder May be Key to Accident by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      No, that's not so much wet as warm and squishy.

  5. Accident cause by guacamolefoo · · Score: 3, Funny

    Shuttle Data Recorder May be Key to Accident

    Well, the solution is simple -- remove the data recorder from the remaining shuttles, and *presto* exploding shuttle problem solved.

    GF.

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    Lots of petrified grits
  6. Maybe not... by twoslice · · Score: 2, Funny

    The last bit of information on the recorder could be this.

    "You idiot! You pressed the wrong button!!!"

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    From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
    1. Re:Maybe not... by wideBlueSkies · · Score: 1, Funny

      Gimme a light.

      KABLAM!!!

      No! Bud light........

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      Huh?
    2. Re:Maybe not... by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      "The last bit of information on the recorder could be this.

      "You idiot! You pressed the wrong button!!!""

      No no, it was probably this:

      "Watch this, I can do a barrel roll..."

    3. Re:Maybe not... by kzinti · · Score: 2, Funny

      Q. What's the last thing a redneck says before he dies?

      A. "Hey everybody, watch this!"

      Hey everybody? You have GOT to be kidding. Admit it, you've never known a real redneck have you? You've watched a couple of episodes of Hee Haw, maybe, but you've never really met or spoken to a real, live, in-the-flesh redneck. Take it from someone who grew up in Alabama, this should be:

      "Hey ya'll, watch this!"

      (I also would have accepted "Hold my beer and watch this!")

      --Jim

  7. Re:Black box?! by Anonymous+Cowtard · · Score: 2, Funny

    Let's see the choices:

    a) It was a vast conspiracy by the evil alien empire with the earth combined with the Republican national committee to divert attention from a meeting of their evil cabal.

    b) Some talking head on the news didn't do his research worth a damn.

    Personally, I think it was a.

  8. No kidding. by hafree · · Score: 2, Funny

    Shuttle Data Recorder May be Key to Accident

    ...and in other news, the pope is catholic. Brilliant headline.

  9. Re:Recorder not strengthened like black box by whimdot · · Score: 3, Funny

    The shuttle, which was designed to survive re-entry, broke-up.

    Nasa say they can't design a black-box that could survive a shuttle disaster.

    The data-recorder, which was not designed to survive re-entry, survived.

    Nasa should get the design of their next re-entry vehicle from the designer of the data-recorder!

  10. Not just the title, the story's stupid. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Of coruse the recorder is going to be one of the keys to analyzing the accident. What, you thought a recording of its instruments and sensors during the moments right before breakup would be totally useless in the investigation?

    In other news, the Warren Commission announced today that the Zapruder film will be "key to analyzing the assasination of JFK."

  11. I always wonder.. by ewithrow · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why don't they just make the whole damn shuttle out of the stuff that the flight data recorder is made out of?

    Same with airplanes too.

    ;)

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    http://almostsmart.com
  12. What kind of tapes? by kmahan · · Score: 2, Funny

    The IS department at a previous job couldn't create a backup tape that would maintain valid data moving it across the datacenter. (as discovered after a harddrive crash). NASA has a backup system that can survive re-entry in a disintegrating shuttle, fall 200,000 feet and STILL have most of the data intact?

    Amazing.

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    Invalid Checksum. Retrying.
  13. Re:The Shuttle is *extremely* difficult to land .. by NickDngr · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... hands-on. Nobody has done it except for the first crew.

    I beg to differ. In this movie, Lea Thompson did it manually without any problem.

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    Yoda of Borg am I! Assimilated shall you be! Futile resistance is, hmm?
  14. Mod +1 (Smashing Windows) by Eideteker · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, if they'd used WMP, Microsoft would have a complete record of their data already. The hard part would be getting that data from them.

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    sic