Slashdot Mirror
The Eyes of the Space Shuttle
Roland Piquepaille writes "Now that Discovery astronaut Steve Robinson has successfully removed two pieces of fabric poking out of the shuttle's heat shield, a question remains: how did NASA discover these anomalies in the first place? In this article, Forbes.com writes that NASA can say thank you to a private Canadian company, Neptec, and its Laser Camera system (LCS). Neptec is working with NASA for ten years now, but it was the first time that its vision technology was used for external damage assessment of a shuttle. As NASA says it may cancel some future shuttle flights, Neptec plans to implement its 3-D imaging technology in military situations and on the battlefield. But read more for other details, references and pictures about this imaging technology."
and stop ripping off other websites content
Maybe the camera's not working right?
"It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
You might consider doing the same for all blog-type submissions, or anything that might be construed as an ad (see the "help me port my game" submission from earlier).
They keep finding things, though. Here's the latest.
Amazing how NASA turned into "Paranoid Scientists Incorporated" since Columbia...
"It felt almost as good as stealing cars from grandma." -- Margaret Thatcher, probably.
They didn't have this technology when the previous space shuttle was launched and destroyed.
Really, you shouldn't need this technology as your own designs should be pretty stable and inspected before launch.
Fallout 3 will suck.
Roland Piquepaille shows his plagarist mug again, and the Slashdot editing staff is more than happy to give front page space to this known thief. Why can't the cowardly Slashdot staff simply confront the many who protest Roland's "stories" being posted? Where's the "open source" mentality which gets thrown around here so frequently. When will Slashdot admit they are hypocrites?
NASA has flown the shuttle well over 100 times, I believe (can't be bothered to check the exact number right now). So, how comes issues with falling pieces of foam and bits sticking out of the tiles are only cropping up now? I realize the STS fleet is aging, but still, it almost sounds like they've been incredibly lucky 100 times and haven't spotted the flaws until now, which sounds quite incredible.
Anybody in the know here could explain this?
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Full Article
Older QNX PR Piece
I could not find the Wikpedia definition of "crapflooded" heh
I wonder what the reaction rate of this system is to sudden changes. For example, could it be used in a CIWS design on smaller vehicles to destroy incoming anti-vehicle missiles?
I guess this would be similar to the Arena that the Russians designed for their tanks, save that it'd use laser instead of millimeter-wavelength radar.
If you could really beef up the range on it (say if you could use it for scanning the skies) perhaps you could use it in lieu of radar on SAM batteries, thus nullifying the use of HARM-type weapons.
"and stop ripping off other websites content"
YEAH! That's Slashdot's job.
We all can't afford to bribe the editors like you can, Roland Piquepaille
Why do you think so highly of the people who run Slashdot? Is it because they are Linux/OSS fans and should therefore be morally respectable and incapable of potentially sleeping with Roland or because you're so naive to think that they care?
A blog like any other.
Two Roland stories in two days! Slashdot must not be getting enough quality submissions from OTHER people.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
Roland's constant inane postings are just bringing down the overall quality. It should be a hint when there's a Firefox extension to remove him from the front page.
They crumped an X-15 with a hard landing during a rocket-failed-to-light landing emergency -- this accident caused serious back injury to pilot Jack MacKay leading to long-term health problems. While the pilot was able to recover to return to flying the X-15, the powers that be decided to rebuild that X-15 with extra fuel tanks.
When they tested that X-15 in high-speed flight, the front landing gear popped out at speed, the tire burnt up, and they had a rough landing on the melted tire. They figured that the rebuilt aircraft was longer and there was no longer enough slack on the landing gear deploy cable so that when the X-15 heated up from high Mach flight, the cable stretched and popped the gear out. Mind you the deployment system for the gear was no more complex than the brake cable on a bicycle because they wanted this to be ultra rugged and reliable because they had not second chances putting the wheels down on an unpowered landing (the Shuttle adopted the X-15 style landing).
So they lengthened the cable to the point where there was almost too much slack to yank on the T handle and get the gear down, but the next time they flew, the wheel popped out again during high Mach flight.
One of the pilots suggested putting one of these "placards" in the X-15 cockpit saying "Do not deploy gear above Mach 5."
The Shuttle has a lot of the characteristics of a research rather than a production aircraft. Don't think there is anything intrinsically bad with it apart from what they are trying to get out of it (production space flight).
The need to repair that shuttle comes from, what I think is, the primary design flaw of the shuttle.
:)
Well, it's really a re-design flaw.
The original orbiter should have, and would have, been carried aloft via a secondary, jumbo-jet-sized, lifter vehicle.
The vietnam war, and little scuffles about bus-seating back in the 60's and 70's caused a great deal of capital to be reallocated. Hence NASA goes to the airforce, strikes a deal, and with a lower budget and military-grade load requirements the shuttle is moved 90 degrees from it's original design orientation...come on engineers, that couldn't possibly come with any consequences...could it?
Anyhow, big-ass crumbly fuel-tank, very-good ( but somewhat finiky) boosters and a turtle essentially on it's back: The Space Shuttle.
Wow, I'm thick with irony today.
Anyhow, in my perfect scenario we would continue to use the orbiter. only we would create a nuclear-rocket lifter vehicle to take off from a runway like a 747 and take the shuttle up to a nice...oh, I'm no expert, but I think a couple hundred miles altitude would be pretty much enough for the orbiter to make it's way up to the IIS or whatever.
Yes. Nuclear...Love the atom, not the bomb.
Both shuttle disasters have in no part been the fault of the actual orbiter itself.
Change the orientation, lower the chaotic stresses (slower, more gradual ascent) and debris potential.
AAAAAAAND, get a baddass nuclear lifter to boot
Sounds like a plan to me...just that darn nuclear part.
Is he the guy behind Duke Nukem Forever? I'm getting my developers confused.
I really don't see the problem with Roland's stories being submitted to Slashdot. I actually find the majority of them fairly interesting, and if he did not submit them then I probably would not see them at all.
.. this is just my 2 cents.
The vitriolic critism dished out to him seems to be undeserved, or at least hypocritical - many other story submissions are self-serving, not just Roland's.
The objections seem to be that he is making money via ad impressions when Slashdot runs a story. How much can he really be making - $5, $10 extra max ? Big deal - I hardly see that as a lot of money, and probably only offsets bandwidth costs anyway.
Probably the only valid complaint I can see is that some people wish to filter out stories by submitter - sounds like a good idea that would keep everyone happy.
I am not affiliated with Roland, and have never met or communicated with him
Sure, articles are self-serving, but they generally contain more information than his blog entries.
It's really about style points (which he is sadly lacking) and being grotesquely self-serving.
YES! YES! They freak out about every little thing.
I mean NO! NO! They are careless imcompetant idiots.
Oh wait, I forgot; this is Slashdot where the posters slam everything, especially the things the things that they are the most ignorant about. That is what makes Slashdot the "special place"....
Remember, Amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic
He's correct about the change in spray on the foam - and that the old spray worked much better. I can't confirm if the change in spray was because of environmental reasons. I would advocate that NASA re-consider their decision on the old spray. I would even suggest that if the reason for no longer using the old spray was EPA related that NASA take the fight public; release all the pertinent data and see how many people would advocate an EPA exemption for the shuttle flights. Oh and for those of you who are now considering a reply that "erbmjw hates the environment" 1) I have been involved with numerous environmental causes in various roles. 2) There are some of us within the environmental movement that can understand the need for rare but extraordinarily useful exemptions. 3) I asked that NASA release all pertinent data!
Thank you for your balanced assessment of this situation.
Many slashdot readers detest the idea of their own comments being censored... but then whine about when slashdot excercises it's right to post what it bloody well wants on it's front page. They did the same thing with Jon Katz, their doing it with Roland, and when he's gone they'll find another target.
BTW- I think the filters are a fine idea too... The Right to not listen is just as important as the right to speak.
Blender And Linux Fan
Linky
It has a lot to do with the planned use of Vandenburg Air Force base to launch the shuttles and disruptions in the launch schedule.
OK, here is the beef, since you're apparently too naive to know:
Plagarism - He lifts images and content from other websites. Only very recently did he start attributing the works he lifts. However even now, his citations are often incomplete.
Spamming - Yes, I do have a beef with making money the specific way he does. He takes news stories that other people write and then basically puts this pop-sci techno-babble spin on it to make appeal to neophytes like you. He then, with ads in place, spams his bullcrap everywhere online. I want to see this stuff submitted by people with no ecnonomic interest from the actual source, not Roland.
Shady Past - I remember when Roland was posting stories about a "Tactile Digital Assistant". The company (which, was French, just like Roland) took money to send people "preview" units, but no one ever received their TDA or a refund. Roland, to this day, refuses to talk about the issue. It looks rather suspicious and likely that he was involved in the scam.
There is no hypocrisy here. We complain about the crap that gets posted all the time. Roland is not exempt or singled out. It just so happens that he submits so many articles and they almost ALL get accepted. Rather fishy.
I doubt the "environmentalists" (which I would hope that every member of the human race is, except for maybe Hitler) forced the change anymore than they caused the power outages in California (which all the clucking little right-wing sheep were bleating about, while Enron and friends were laughing their asses off at how stupid some gullible folks are).
Firstly, the heat shield is well known as one of NASA's less brilliant ideas; if you read James Michener's novel Space one of his characters shakes his head at the inelegance and horrible complexity of the design, I believe reflecting the views of many within NASA at the time about the whole concept.
As far as why they're finding these problems now: it's mainly because they're looking a lot harder. The only reason NASA knows about the issue is that they're checking the heat shield with cameras while in orbit. As far as why they actually intMy guess is that the reason why they did the removal wasn't that the shuttle would have definitely crashed if it had reentered with those gap fillers; it was that NASA didn't *know* what would happen if those gap fillers were there. By the law of averages, the shuttle has probably landed successfully a number of times with the same problem.
However, imagine, hypothetically, that NASA decided not to remove those gap fillers, and the shuttle crashes on reentry. I can just imagine the congressional hearings now about NASA incompetence in not applying a relatively simple fix that might have saved the Shuttle. Given the relative risk of fixing the problem compared to not fixing it, and it's easy to see why NASA went with fixing it.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
Journalists and news people usually feed off one another. Not only have I seen it happen in the media, I have been the recipient of news coverage triggered by other news coverage which was triggered by other news coverage.
It doesn't seem like a bit deal if the coverage is interested, no plagarism is committed, and credit is given.
Every time you click onto Roland Piquepaille's blog, God kills a kitten.
"Sure there's porn and piracy on the Web but there's probably a downside too."
http://redwing.hutman.net/~mreed/warriorshtm/bigdo gmetoo.htm
It's just like that, the USA is the Big Dog and Canada is "Me too!"
interesting comment, now you know how the rest of the world feels everytime they here "American" enjoy
when in doubt press enter and we'll figure it out later..
If we can put aside all the Roland protests for a second, lets go a bit deeper into the actual story ...
... used to give more reach to the Canadarm. ... you know, that device that american media refers to only as the remote manipulator arm, never by its proper name, yes, the device that hauled in the Hubble telescope for repairs must never get the credit it is due. Remember how it's Canada insignia was removed to hide its origin during the big media coverage of the hubble events? Wouldn't want anyone to think that anyone other than the US can do anything great now would you!
... as well as taking more pictures to investigate the shuttle, the robotic arm that can go end over end inch worming between connection points along the space station ... the Canadarm2
Yes it is Canadian lidar technology that was used to scan the shuttle for damage.
But, what you'll never hear from any American media outlet is that the laser camera was mounted on the Canadian extention arm
And of course the lets not forget about the other big tool that helps assemble the space station
Do you Americans build any of the space hardware you use?
George Bush + Linux = "I will not let information get in the way of the fight against Windows"
well nasa is a bit more scared then befor sence this is are last shuttle left. the space project isnt gonna get anywhere untill we try to go to mars yes mars. just like the moon it will relly be something people wana see and the funding will roll in. somone was going on abought how shuttles should be inspected befor liftoff. trust me they are many times over. the problem is they go threw hell at liftoff. where talking hurling something into space with a high yeald rocket thats aot of force. the speeds they need to get to to escape the earth and the sheer force can work stuff lose rip stuff off etc where talking like 50 times gravty at those speeds thats why astronots need g traning. i whont denay the shuttles or shuttle are now old and need to be replaced. but thats all we got and thanks to are little ventures in iraq and no puplic intrest in the space program we dont have the money to resurch and build a new better shuttle. if you whant a new shuttle then wright your congres tell them to get the f out of irag and let them kill themselfs there own way and dump money into the space project so they can afford to do so. but it would take alot more then every slashdotter to make it happon. everyone has to whant it to happon to make it so. i have seen many nasa concept desines of a new shuttle that can stay in space for a long ass time even one that could acully go to mars but the price tag is byond what they can afford thanks to what i said earler.
I've been reading all this Roland nonesense and then I decided to visit his page. It seems that he has been spammed to the ground. He had to disable his comments because they were overrun. Is this the way we deal with problems like this? Whoever is responsible for this better have good proof that this man is a fraud. The last time I checked, vigelante justice wasn't an approved way of dealing with problems.
I'm not siding with anyone here; however, it surprises me that people would attempt to take revenge in this manner. I can no longer tell who has commited a crime here. Everyone looks guilty.
If it were me with the concern, I would have sent a serious letter to slashdot, and then I would have made a post showing my concerns. This has gotten way out of hand.
i think they need this ,and going pretty cheap too!
We played dungeons and dragons for 3 hours.....then i was slain by an elf
I won't try to make any joke about pollution, but why couldn't Hitler (specifically) be an environmentalist?
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
Everybody go read Fallen Angels by Larry Niven (et al). You can get it from the Baen Free Library, here.
Why do I think you should all go read it? It's a very interesting alternate presentation of the environmentalist movement, and it was a strong enough presentation that I found my own position being pushed away from where I thought I was going.
Hrmph. Who wants to stop global warming? Those that want to start the overdue ice age!
Like what I said? You might like my music
Did anyone also think that maybe because the version on his site includes images (I can't recall ever seeing an image on Slashdot... but maybe there was a crazy experiment to do so long ago).
Also, his full text is rather long by Slashdot standards. Slashdot readers tend to like their news in 1 paragraph sound bytes, and then clicking a link if they care to read more. Well, isn't that what he did?
Either way, who cares. It's news. God forbid he post it anywhere outside Slashdot too!
The News Nazi: "No news for j00! Post only on Slashdot, or never come back! Next!"
I8-D
Hehehe, I wish I had any mod-points, but sadly no, my friend, they will not let me have them out of fear(Or perhaps because of my meta-mods).
The reason why you got modded down, is because American pride precedes humor, so making fun of pride related issues is unamerican and will get you modded as Troll or Flamebait, because the majority of slashdotters are American.
In Europe, your joke would be a much larger success, Americans simply don't understand that kind of humor.
-H
Do you seriously think that this is funny?
These astronauts are courageously putting their lives on the line for the advancement of science and for the greater good of society, and you're making a joke about them dying?
That's just wrong. Period. By the way, yes, I am an American, but I'd feel the same way if you were making a joke like this about Russian cosmonauts.
This is 3D laser thingy is nice and all, but these fabric pieces were clearly visible in a picture from a regular camera in the PUBLIC DOMAIN:
See for yourself.
It seems to me this laser thingy is meant to find much smaller flaws.
Hitler was a vegetarian. Like many environmentalists, he cared more about animals than people.
Boy, you're a good little sucker, aren't you?
Calling Hitler an environmentalist, or proponent of animal rights, is ridiculous. Hitler didn't give a shit about any living thing, and forsook meat (with many transgressions) only because he believed that it caused cancer. He was driven by self-preservation, not moral consideration for animals. I don't eat rats, but that doesn't make me a rat lover.
Environmentalists absolutely caused the outages in California.
Bleeeeeet! Bleeeeeeet! You're a good little soldier for the cause.
This has been thoroughly debunked in every way, and it has been shown, publicly, that the energy crisis was, in the end, manufactured by Enron and friends. Ken Lay and friends thank you for your brainless and idiotic support, though.
I have no problem with a site that posts small excerpts and links to other people's news. I appreciate that there are people who take the time to go out and look for interesting things and post them. Then if I find the same things interesting I don't have to all that work. I love it when people (dj's) who are enthusiastic about music and actively seek out new stuff, and bring it to me every week. I like it when journalists do the same. I am even willing (and I do) support these people with money.
I do, however, have a problem with a site that posts small excerpts and links to other sites with small excerpts, which links to other sites with small excerpts and to get to the actual meat of the story you have to go play hopscotch through a bunch of worthless blogs, or do a google search. It defeats the entire purpose of an aggregator site which is to do the work of find interesting information, so I don't have to.
So, I don't have a problem with Roland's site. Heck, it seems to be better edited than Slashdot. I do have a problem with Slashdot constantly linking to it rather than to a direct source (or as direct of a source as they can find).
IIRC, those photos were taken from the ISS, as the shuttle approached, and didn't nearly give a complete view of all the tiles - they were more of a quick check. The lidar can give a full surface check. It is also there to check the shuttle even if it isn't going to the ISS (although, I really don't think this NASA administration is going to risk any shuttle flights except to the ISS). And as you said, can check for smaller flaws.
Moderation -1
100% Flamebait
See what I mean? Nerd TrollMods can't tell the difference between the parent Flamebait, and my flame post. Because anyone making waves must be suppressed. They might become popular, or they might become unpopular. Which might make the nerd thereby less unpopular, a status which scares the social skilless nerd.
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make install -not war
Piquepaille is popular with the Slashdot editors. And his stories get lots of reads, too. He's unpopular with a small group (relative to Slashdot's 100Ks of readers), which is very vocal in its attacks on him. Mostly just repeating the same current running joke. Attacking Piquepaille is like saying "in Soviet Russia...", or "X is for old Korean people", or "1. X 2. Y 3. ??? 4. PROFIT!!!". And mostly Anonymous Cowards, or accounts used solely to attack Piquelaille.
In other words, a gang of obnoxious, sociopathic nerds. Which of course you, Anonymous nerd Coward, mistake for the entire Slashdot group, because you're a part of the nerdy little gang of "rebels". It is unclear whether Piquepaille is really somehow in some kind of insider deal with the editors. The idea that he is somehow ripping off Slashdotters with his postings, because he might earn a living from it - exactly like most of those to whom all Slashdot traffic is directed, as well as Slashdot's staff - that idea is totally unclear, and in fact wrong. What is clear is that you are a sociopathic nerd, who can't even learn from this obvious social travesty, even when it's made as clear as the hairy nose jutting from the middle of your acned face.
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make install -not war
If you put it that way, I understand, and I also agree.
Sorry for jumping on your case like that.
They just went to APOD...
The triangular piece is obvious, what I believe is the other piece is being looked at edge-on so it's tricky to see. You can even see the damaged heat shield on the left.
Consultancy: If you're not part of the solution, there's money to be made in prolonging the problem
Because, anything Hitler believed is automatically evil and wrong because he believed it. You wouldn't want to be associated with the beliefs of someone as evil as Hitler, would you? I hear he believed in gravity so I personally do not believe in it anymore. I mean, come on, an unseen force pulling things together. Get real.
Just because you jerk off to pictures of me doesn't mean that I'm a nerd like you. Girls like me. Anonymous virgin Coward.
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make install -not war