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Major Chinese Satellite Suffers Complete Failure
cyclone96 writes "China's most advanced satellite, the direct broadcast Sinosat 2, apparently suffered a major failure on orbit following launch on October 29. None of the solar arrays or antennas deployed on the spacecraft, and the Chinese are now mulling whether to destroy the spacecraft in the atmosphere. The article provides the following analysis:
"The catastrophic breakdown of China's new Sinosat 2 direct broadcast satellite is the worst spacecraft failure in the history of the Chinese space program and a major setback to China's development of a new generation of larger, more powerful civilian and military satellites.""
Then they've got another 372183628 of them on the production line, ready for cheap shipping to every major US and EU reseller...
I had a talk about that back when I was in school. The chap giving it was of the opinion that the reason why things are so much better today is that a lot of Taiwanese companies got a bit fed up of being the butt of everyone else's "low quality" jokes (and probably figured it would be a lot easier to sell things worldwide if they did something about quality) and promptly instigated some reforms to do something about it.
Legend has it, a few years later a UK company placed an order for a million items (history doesn't relate what they were), with a note attached saying "We would expect your quality control to be so good that there would be no more than three faulty parts per million".
Fast forward a couple of months, the order came off the boat and arrived in their warehouse with a note saying "Please find enclosed the three faulty items under separate wrapper, though we can't imagine why you want them."
I'd have thought that the worst spacecraft failure would be one that directly resulted in loss of life, like that rocket that veered off course
I don't know, this is China we're talking about. Loss of life can be a result of just having your blog veer off course.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
How do you pronounce that? eighty-ies? Maybe you could write 8ies, which I kinda like. Or plain old '80s.
Why? Can he fetch an 8 iron?
Nah. Because he gets really mad when he spends all morning using his nose to find one stray molecule of quail scent under a bush in 200 acres of fields and brush, and then stands there for ten minutes on point to show me where it is, and exhibits saint-like patience while I kick around in the cover to get the bird up into the air where it's safe to use a shotgun... and then... miss. You've never seen such a look of reproach. Plus, quail is some very tasty meat, and we usually share (although I think it's the butter in which it's sauteed that really gets the dog going).
However, I have no doubt that any good retieving dog would be happy to go fetch that 8-iron you threw in the woods out of disgust. We could probably get that process worked out in one afternoon. You bring a bag of liver treats, and we'll have it on his resume in an hour. The real solution, though, is to give up that silly game of golf, and try your hand at shooting trap and skeet. You'd like it: it's expensive, frustrating, and you have to keep buying fancy equipment, since only your other, less-expensive equipment could possibly explain any competitive failures. It's like golf, only you can easily kill yourself or someone else if you're not careful.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
what the hell are fnarr fnarrs?
Native Chinese predators that feed exclusively on panda meat.
Don't you watch the Discovery Channel?
I wasn't saying ANYTHING about China or the quality of their products, you asshat.
a nt.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=NOB_C37_C
i rvoyant.htm
I was critiquing the ability of the audiophool crowd to distinguish worthwhile products from technobabble, marketing scams, and flat-out bullshit. And how an endorsement by said group says absolutely NOTHING about the technical merits of a product. Here are only a few examples of the utter BULLSHIT that the audiophools buy into:
A wooden volume control KNOB for $500 (need 2 for stereo, BTW) that promises buyers that "The sound becomes much more open and free flowing with a nice improvement in resolution. Dynamics are better and overall naturalness is improved.":
http://www.referenceaudiomods.com/Merchant2/merch
Special "secret mojo" paint to apply to the D/A chip inside your CD player to create the mystical "tube sound":
http://www.altmann.haan.de/tubeolator/
A $1500 POWER CABLE that is described like a glass of fine wine. "The Clairvoyant's signature is engaging, energetic, and bristling with light and microdynamic life"; "lifelike timing and pace" coupled with "clarity, definition, lithe touch, and articulation throughout the lower registers."
http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/audiomagic_cla
The previously mentioned bottle of magic pebbles to increase listening pleasure:
http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina31.htm
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Haha, good one!
:)
My dad (who worked for Rolls Royce Aerospace in Bristol) has a similar story about aerospace engines which kept blowing up after being shipped and fitted at a particular location in the far east. Eventually they sent someone out there to find out why the engines kept failing. They determined it was because some critical bolts weren't torqued up after fitting. In the end they traced it to a translation anomoly, which indicated that the installer should "check bolts for looseness" - so the installer carefully loosened the appropriate bolts.
Urban legend, I'm sure, but a great story nonetheless.
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Secondly, you ignore the multiple layers of C37 lacquer, which would otherwise result in over-dampening of the highest frequencies.
Finally, the knobs are only $485, a steal considering the labor that have gone into their design and testing.