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Astronauts Get Tricoders (Almost)

Posted by michael on from the dr.-mccoy-was-playing-tetris dept.

AzrealAO writes "Space.com is reporting that The Expedition 9 crew aboard the International Space Station are equipped with HP iPAQ PocketPC's, which they are using as mobile productivity tools to record crew procedures, personal memos, check e-mail and calendars. The crew can also listen to music, view photos from home and read e-books. The iPAQs will be left on the station and reconfigured for future crews, and two additional iPAQs will be sent up on the next flight for a total of four."

28 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. Cost? by Inominate · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So how much does it cost to put an ipaq into orbit?

    1. Re:Cost? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Certainly not more than sending an entire car to the moon. I wish we could return to that era, instead of the times we live in now, where everyone goes worried about tiny costs that aren't even worth thinking of. Mankind can travel anywhere in space, it's just a matter of how much we want to do it. Apparently, not that much, judging from the health of any space program anywhere.

    2. Re:Cost? by imag0 · · Score: 4, Informative

      according to this link it's 5.5K to send a pound up...

      http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/upgrades/goa ls .html

      HP says the h5555 (close enough) weighs 7.29 oz

      these guys will convert shit

      http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert

      been up all night so im probably fulla shit but 7.2 oz is 0.45 pounds (bit less than 1/2 pound?)

      0.45 x 5,500 = $2475 a pop. not including SD card or swanky leatherette carrying case. or extended warranty, for that matter ;)

      Carry on!

  2. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  3. hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why don't they take up one of those performance gaming laptops and we can send them new game CDs every now and then. It's not like every man-second up there is worth thousands of dollars.... they can have a bit of fun.

    You'd be pissed if you forgot the battery charger though.

    1. Re:hmmm by Rolo+Tomasi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The iPAQs aren't radiation hardened either.

      --
      Did you know you can fertilize your lawn with used motor oil?
  4. connection? by jponster · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Check emails? view photos from home? what sort of connection do they get in space?
    I remember the trouble I had getting ADSL cos I live in the middle of nowhere, but this is something else - surely they cant be using dialup??

    1. Re:connection? by Bishop,+Martin · · Score: 3, Informative

      The latest mars missions had 15kb/s I believe

      --
      Setec Astronomy
    2. Re:connection? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      from what i hear... they put linux + kismet + pringles can on the ipaqs and use them to hack in to 802.11b's as they fly over.

    3. Re:connection? by TheRoachMan · · Score: 3, Interesting

      In theory, they could get way more than 15kb/sec. There's always numerous sattellites within range, so connectivity and bandwidth shouldn't be a problem. Problem is, I don't think they can use commercial satellites, because their communications are supposed to be secret. NASA doesn't want people eavesdropping :)

    4. Re:connection? by rf0 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Well they can get 128K to Mars Deep Space Network
      Rus

      --
      Cheap UK and US VPS
  5. Re:Tricoders? by TheRoachMan · · Score: 3, Informative

    My thought exactly. Compare:
    Tricoders
    TricoRders
    Last one gives more relevant results.

  6. Official Press Release by Eluding+Reality · · Score: 4, Informative

    Right here

  7. Aren't Tricorders Sensors?? by Blastrogath · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I thought the whole point of a tricorder was a portible package of a ton of sensors and a little computing power to run analisys of the data. Tricorders are used to measure stuff, not take notes. These things are more like the star trek data tablets if anything.

    --
    "The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." -Plato
  8. Not a Bad Choice by 10101001011 · · Score: 5, Funny

    While many /.'ers may be crying for a Sharp SL-5600 or CL760 to be on board the ISS, the iPAQ isn't a bad choice. It is fairly rugged (for the every day man) and user-friendly enough.

    My first choice would have been the Dell Axim X5 400MHzsince it can accept CF and SD cards (and PCMCIA is an adapter is purchased) and it costs considerably less with a 512MB SD card and a WiFi card than the current equivilant iPAQ (the iPAQ 5555). Of course they probably need those biometric security features. Wouldn't want some complete stranger (or the owner) to actually be able to access their weekly calendar. God knows, they're doing some topsecret stuff up there....

    1. Re:Not a Bad Choice by moonbender · · Score: 4, Funny

      Thank god it's rugged. Wouldn't want to ship up a new one if one of those thoughtless astronauts drops his iPaq off a table or something, now would you? ;)

      --
      Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
  9. Another article. by modifried · · Score: 4, Informative

    Can be found here:
    http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/333/C2797/

  10. keeping in touch by acceber · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The crew will also be able to listen to music, view photos from home and read e-books, allowing them to have some of the comforts of home on their journey.
    Considering that the Expedition 9 crew are spending almost 6 months aboard the International Space Station, this is a great way of keeping in touch with family and civilisation as a whole.

    The iPaq being used in space is another example where the benefits of technology can be felt as it would reduce the effects of "asthenia" where astronauts experience phases of fatigue, low motivation, hypersensitivty and irritability with the change in environment and lack of social communication. The iPaq obviously aims to provide a solution to that problem to a great extent.

  11. Ah, the self-delusion of fiction-tech-desperate by dupper · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Geeks. A personal organizer is no more a Tricorder than my interstellar spacecraft is the Enterprise.

  12. Uh, I can't really remember by dupper · · Score: 5, Insightful
    A tricorder doing a single one of those things, and I've seen every episode of Star Trek more times than is healthy. Tricorders are tools, not personal organizers and media players. They are universal, trekno-magically flexible sensing tools, that could be deus-ex-machina'ed by a stupid fucking Voyager writer to Van Eck what background applications you have running from three sectors away.

    They may have such functions as this PDA, but they'd be so far below the level of a tricorder's usual function that they wouldn't be worth mentioning, and, being tools for work, never be used as such.

  13. Sensationalize much? by Accipiter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Jesus Christ, that's one of the stupidest headlines ever to appear on this site. First, it's spelled wrong. It's "Tricorder" and not "Tricoder."

    Secondly, these things are not anything even resembling the functions of a tricorder. I read the headline and was instantly thinking, "Wow, a handheld scanning tool. That should be cool." But no, I read on to find it's a stupid unmodified iPAQ. They don't do sensing, they don't take readings, and they don't scan anything. It's not a tricorder, and it's not ALMOST a tricorder. It's a goddamned PDA.

    --

    -- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
    (If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't. :P)

  14. Re:Tricoders? by MisterLawyer · · Score: 3, Funny

    No, definitely not. I'm absolutely certain he was referring to TriCoders.

  15. Calendar? by 6Yankee · · Score: 5, Funny

    Monday: Float about and do stuff

    Tuesday: Float about and do stuff

    Wednesday: Float about and do stuff

    Thursday: Float about and do stuff

    Friday: Float about and do stuff

    Saturday: It's the weekend! Float about and do stuff

    Sunday: Float about and put next week's calendar in

  16. Re:Tricoders? by DanThe1Man · · Score: 5, Funny

    lol :) I can't believe on slashdot of all sites this slipped!

    You must be new here.

  17. Re:Tricoders? by Spunk · · Score: 5, Funny

    I believe the term is "a fucking PDA"

  18. Too advanced by cybermace5 · · Score: 4, Funny

    While they don't have a full complement of sensors, the practical limit being perhaps sensing some coded IR signals, their display technology far outstrips any tricorder's. HP should rework them into a version where the TFT display is removed, and replaced with a random assortment of LEDs and bargraph displays which convey information via flickering coded signals.

    --
    ...
  19. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 3, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  20. Biggest problem with PADDs by Stavr0 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Most PocketPC have their "My Documents" folder in main memory (volatile RAM). If an crewmember forgets to dock their PDA or a battery fails, they may lose all their documents. There is a secondary battery, but it's not perfect.

    Workarounds:
    1. Stock each PDA with a 1GB mem card
    2. Dock early and often (automatic backup on docking)!
    3. Wifi to the ISS servers.

    Finally an obligatory Trekkie comments: They're more like PADDs not Tricorders, you insensitive p'tahks!