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Hubble Repairs Hindered By Antiquated Computer Systems
Andrew Moseman writes "Part of the trouble NASA is encountering while fixing the Hubble Space Telescope comes from the fact that it's been up there for nearly two decades, and therefore carries computer systems long outdated here on Earth. 'One of the main computers that the Goddard team has been struggling with during the repair attempts runs on an Intel 486 chip, the height of 1989 technology.' Many of NASA's long-running missions rely on antiquated systems — the Voyager probes each have about 32k of memory — but the scientists say they can manage."
well if the Hubble has at least 640k memory it should be fine. . . .right?
"Well it probably runs better than Vista"
No manufacturer makes the turbo buttons that must be disengaged so Hubble can focus properly.
I sent my Amiga 500 into orbit in 2001 using a homemade trebuchet (granted, quite a large one) and a very high mountain. It broadcasts the Pinball Dreams high score list every two hours on the hour. The problem is, the last time I went up to do some improvements (long story) I had forgotten a few vital 68000 assembler directives, so I was unable to make the transition from antiquated late-80s desktop computer to cutting-edge ASAT weapon. Too bad, now the 10kT warhead I attached to it is probably just sitting there, twiddling its sub-critical materials.
No TP for you! Budget problems...
...when you think Hubble is an astronomer.
I read the headline and thought there were complications during poor Edwin's double knee replacement.
Sure! How can anyone use more than even 64K (was the saying when the 8086 came out).
I agree. Upgrade the Voyager probes now!!
A quote from the famous "Real programmers don't use Pascal" article written in 1983.
Some of the most awesome Real Programmers of all work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Many of them know the entire operating system of the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft by heart. With a combination of large ground-based Fortran programs and small spacecraft-based assembly language programs, they are able to do incredible feats of navigation and improvisation-- hitting ten-kilometer wide windows at Saturn after six years in space, repairing or bypassing damaged sensor platforms, radios, and batteries. Allegedly, one Real Programmer managed to tuck a pattern matching program into a few hundred bytes of unused memory in a Voyager spacecraft that searched for, located, and photographed a new moon of Jupiter.
The current plan for the Galileo spacecraft is to use a gravity assist trajectory past Mars on the way to Jupiter. This trajectory passes within 80 +/- 3 kilometers of the surface of Mars. Nobody is going to trust a Pascal program (or Pascal programmer) for navigation to these tolerances.
If you have never read it, it's still a great read (at least for us old-timers).
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/real.programmers.html
Hey - don't forget the folks at the NASA research facility at Langley :(
I am open source, and Linux baby!
Assembler? Bah. Us Real Programmers use a floppy diskette, a needle and a horseshoe magnet.
Caveat Emptor is not a business model.
... but if NASA had Geek Squad Black Tie Protection Premium, this would be a non-issue.
Can't they just remodulate the shield harmonics or reverse the polarity of the neutron flow or something?
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
It's common knowledge 486s (and their variants) were pulled from the classified wreckage at Roswell NM earlier last century. Trust me, they've had plenty of time to work with those babies.
Glad I could help clarify that.
-- Posted from my parent's basement
Good God man, if we do that, we could turn all matter into doesn't matter, then nobody will give a fuck.
it is only after a long journey that you know the strength of the horse.
So what are they using on the Battlestar Galactica? I bet it's really neat.
Interstitial spaces are filled with cream.