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The 100-Million Mile Network
mykepredko writes "eWeek has an article on the network and radio topography of the two Mars rovers and how they communicate with satellites in Mars' orbit as well as the Earth. The article ends by giving four rules for maintaining a space network, a) Automate processes, b) Bulletproof your gear, c) Be persistent and d) Simulate potential problems, which are probably good rules for any network."
Never have a public webpage that can be linked to from Slashdot.
b) Bulletproof your gear
I'd think micrometeorite-proofing my gear would be more useful.
funny munging
I didn't RTFA, but it sounds like they're just running ethernet cables (or OC12 or whatever) to Mars. Didn't they stop to think that the planets move? Ridiculous! The ESA and NASA really need to get their acts together.
True story.
MWAN - Multi-World Area Network i guess....
If only the Beagle 2 people had seen this article beforehand.
Persistantly empty clip after clip of rounds from an automatic rifle at your prototype. If it survives, begin production.
They are just perpetuating the myth that the rovers are really on mars. Everyone knows that it is all done in a Hollywood sound stage. The problem a few weeks ago with the the first rover was traced to someone using the mircowave oven and causing interference with their radios on the set. Anyone want another burrito heated up?
Haven't you heard?
Martians in pickup trucks drive around the surface of the planet, shooting at any Earth landers they see.
Where do you think we got the term "Redneck" from?
Chip H.
and I can't even get a cable/DSL modem yet!!! new slogan... Earth First, We'll Network the Other Planets Later
I think that Spirit should be considered a big win for NASA. They patched a software bug on a platform that had corrupted flash, basically having to reinstall portions of operating code.
Something about the repairing a 747 while it is in flight analogy.
It may not be as dramatic as the rescue of Apollo 13, but they should be commended for well though out design principles, instead of just taking cheap shots at them when something fails as most people are wont to do.
c) Be persistent
Do they really need that in the handbook? What did they use to do when they had a problem?
Engineer 1: "Shit Fred, I can't ping it."
Engineer 2: "Oh well, cest la vie. You wanna grab a beer?"
They're using RAD6000 processors which are modified chips used to run old Macs from the early nineties. Each rover has 384 megabytes of RAM, the extra 256 is for images.
The operating system is VxWorks.
Bulletproofing your gear is extremely important. The old IBM XT's were up for that, I took one camping once (just the case and CPU) and we set up it and took shot's at it with .22's. Only 1 shot pierced the 1/4 inch thick steel case, and the only actual damage done was a really noisy fan afterwards.
Think martians have more firepower then .22's, though? d'oh!
Mod +5 Drunk
Not to nitpick but,
<nitpick>
The RAD6000 is a radiation hardened RS/6000 PowerPC chip from IBM. A similar chip was used in Apple Macintoshes, but Apple is not the source of the RAD6000 chip.
</nitpick>
I love my Mac as much as everybody else, but it's just not the case that the RAD6000 is a 'mac' chip. It's an IBM chip, a cousin of those used in macs.
I use W2K as a platform.
I use what has worked reliably for years and years.
Isn't that a contradiction in terms?
Computational Chemistry products and services.
Clearly, Mars Channel 25 caused the original Spirit communication breakdown by interrupting it with an episode of Days of our red, dreary lives.
UHF is not that old... most public service (save the boomtowns like LA and NYC) are still on VHF-lo/hi. My county fire (in CA) does digital telemtry over a 159mhz (VHF) freq to track all the apparatuses around the county. With the low bandwidth allowed and general problems that come with VHF, it is a fight. A good thing about UHF is its relative line of sight path while still penetrating/bending around slight obstructions and keeping a good digital signal. Higher frequency signals coming from an omni-directional antenna would die out pretty quick if anything more than dust was in the way. To get around really big obstructions lowband is the way to go... there is a reason CA Dept. of Forrestry and CA Highway Patrol still maintain their 30mhz radio nets around the state. But to go digital you need clean signals, so 800+mhz is the way to go there. What, you want both? Oh, UHF-T band then, 400mhz. Enjoy.