'Zombie' Satellite Returns To Life

133 west by circletimessquare · 2010-12-31 02:49 · Score: 5, Funny

aka 133t status

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Re:133 west by bell.colin · 2011-01-03 19:52 · Score: 1

That's 1337 DumbAss

Satellite wreaking havoc upon its neighbours... by jenningsthecat · 2010-12-31 02:50 · Score: 0, Offtopic

Gee - do you think we can successfully upload an 'emergency patch' to DHS and TSA?

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Re:Satellite wreaking havoc upon its neighbours... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-12-31 03:58 · Score: 0

No, but one of the other traditional anti-zombie measures may be effective: Holy water, beheading, shotgun, stake through the heart, etc.
Oh wait, I'm mixing it up with vampires.
Re:Satellite wreaking havoc upon its neighbours... by GaryOlson · 2010-12-31 04:30 · Score: 2

...Galaxy XV battery completely drained and the satellite's baseband equipment command unit reset...
No mixup. This is basic vampire functionality -- drain the victim; and when the victim resets the victim is now a vampire. So, the satellite has transformed from zombie to vampire. Which satellite will it drain next? (Echelon is my first choice)

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Drat by JustOK · 2010-12-31 02:51 · Score: 4, Funny

Drat! Foiled again.

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rewriting history since 2109

Re:Drat by mcneely.mike · 2010-12-31 06:29 · Score: 1

Yeah... if it hadn't been for those pesky kids. Hey, get that dog off my lawn!

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Traversing the sky? by rossdee · 2010-12-31 02:53 · Score: 1

It was in orbit right? It wasn't like it was under power all that time. (well if it was its unlikely to have much propellant left to do any manouvers)

Re:Traversing the sky? by locofungus · 2010-12-31 03:00 · Score: 4, Informative

If it was perturbed into a slightly lower orbit then it would orbit the Earth in less than 24hrs. If it ended up in a slightly higher orbit then it would orbit the Earth in slightly more than 24 hrs.
I don't want to commit to which way this satellite has gone (because I'm bound to get it backwards) but it's now about 2 hours displaced from where it should have been. That's an error in its orbit of about 0.02% or about 20 seconds per day.
Tim.

--
God said, "div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = -@B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t," and there was light.
Re:Traversing the sky? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-12-31 05:08 · Score: 0

Each GSO satellite is given a 'slot'. I forget the specifics, but they're relatively close to each other in these slots. The satellites have small station keeping thrusters (either monoprop or some type of hall/ion). They have a reserve for moving themselves in a parking orbit once their life expectancy is up, to make room for the next. Loosing control of one means that its neighbors are in jeopardy, and they don't have much room to move without running into their neighbors.
If the satellite has no usable thrusters, its going to be left on its own when it becomes perturbed by things such as the moon, jupiter, the sun, etc. Causing it to fall out of its slot, as this one has done.
Re:Traversing the sky? by RoboRay · 2010-12-31 05:15 · Score: 0

Newton's First Law of Motion:
Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.
Re:Traversing the sky? by Dolphinzilla · 2010-12-31 05:21 · Score: 1

yes - I think they are something like 2 degrees apart (it might be 4) but the close separation is why you need such large antennas for high data rates (narrow beam widths) to avoid "spamming" the adjacent satellites
Re:Traversing the sky? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-12-31 05:35 · Score: 0

slots are 0.1 degree apart. about 100 km wide per slot.
Re:Traversing the sky? by TheRaven64 · 2010-12-31 05:57 · Score: 3, Insightful

Corollary one: Any object in orbit around a body with mass has an external force applied to it.
Corollary two: Any object in the solar system is part of an n-body problem and has lots of external forces applied to it.

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Re:Traversing the sky? by SuricouRaven · 2010-12-31 11:16 · Score: 1

The chance of collision is infinitesimal. Space is really, really big. If one of them should wander out of it's slow though, it will interfere with it's neighbours - they tend to use the same frequency bands, seperated only by the use of highly directional antennas.
Re:Traversing the sky? by spazdor · 2010-12-31 11:54 · Score: 1

Oh, we almost forgot: objects in freefall, subject to any number of gravitational pulls, are not actually subject to any forces but are merely following a straight path through a non-flat region of spacetime.

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Re:Traversing the sky? by jra · 2011-01-02 07:58 · Score: 1

Indeed; the spacing on the belt is determined by the frequency band, and the minimum acceptable size of the uplink dishes; Ku and moreso Ka band birds can be quite a bit closer together than C band ones.

Does this mean by Dunbal · 2010-12-31 02:59 · Score: 1, Insightful

So does Intelsat have to give the insurance money back now? Or does it take more than a year to process this kind of claim anyway?

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Re:Does this mean by v1 · 2010-12-31 04:15 · Score: 3, Funny

So does Intelsat have to give the insurance money back now? Or does it take more than a year to process this kind of claim anyway?
They were delayed due to problems scheduling an appointment for an adjustment agent to take a look at the satellite.

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Re:Does this mean by bill_mcgonigle · 2010-12-31 04:28 · Score: 2

So does Intelsat have to give the insurance money back now?
I'm interested in the preventative actions prescribed by the insurance policy to avoid further software catastrophes.
Kudos to whomever figured out the patch, though, and those who designed the system such that the patch was still able to be uploaded in its current condition.

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Re:Does this mean by Mr.+Freeman · 2010-12-31 05:28 · Score: 2

"Kudos to whomever figured out the patch, though, and those who designed the system such that the patch was still able to be uploaded in its current condition."

It was actually a coincidence that they were able to do it in the first place. According to TFA it wasn't some clever people down here that fixed it.

"On Dec. 23, the battery on Galaxy 15 — which relied on solar panels pointed at the sun to generate power — became completely drained, Intelsat officials said. Once that happened, the satellite reset itself as designed and began accepting commands from Intelsat's control center."

The satellite basically fixed itself. The uploaded patch didn't fix the problem, but will prevent it from occurring in the future. Although you can bet that future satellites will most definitely have some kind of watchdog to kill the payload in the event that the position control systems experience a critical failure.

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Re:Does this mean by camperslo · 2010-12-31 05:29 · Score: 1

They were delayed due to problems scheduling an appointment for an adjustment agent to take a look at the satellite.
No problem, it turns out that you only missed the meeting advising you of where the payment was left. There has been a check waiting in orbit at 122 degrees west for a year. Since the satellite doesn't need replacing, you'll have to pay us back with interest. The rate is a little high as we're a Delaware corporation.
Re:Does this mean by LibRT · 2010-12-31 06:21 · Score: 1

Typically the insurance company gets ownership of any damaged goods it pays to replace (this is known as salvage). I'm not familiar with the peculiarities of satellite insurance tho - salvage may very well not apply (or it may be in the insurance contract but not acted upon as a matter of practicality) because it seems to me it's generally an all or nothing proposition: either the satellite launches and operates successfully or it is permanently lost (the present case, surely an oddity, notwithstanding). And it isn't as tho an insurer would hop a space shuttle and go claim their salvage such that they could sell it for scrap metal...actually, here's what wiki says: "Another aspect of satellite insurance is the procedure attached to salvage. Though it is impossible to obtain monetary value from the wreckage in the event of an actual total loss or constructive total loss, many insurers rely on sharing any revenue which may be obtainable from the failed satellite with the insured." https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Satellite_insurance It's safe to say the satellite's owner would also carry liability insurance, such that any harm done to other satellites (or anything, really) results in compensation to the injured third party.
Re:Does this mean by MichaelSmith · 2010-12-31 12:58 · Score: 2

The uploaded patch didn't fix the problem, but will prevent it from occurring in the future.
Reading the article I am not sure how. My reading is that it has working data in something like RAM and a reference copy is built into ROM. If power is reset it copies from ROM to RAM. Radiation can corrupt the RAM. So how can a software change make the RAM less likely to be corrupted? Or have they tweaked a mechanism which triggers a reset to the copy in ROM?

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Re:Does this mean by bill_mcgonigle · 2010-12-31 18:14 · Score: 1

Thanks for clarifying - agreed.

--
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Re:Does this mean by jra · 2011-01-02 06:01 · Score: 1

<nit>
Please don't refer to Wikipedia as "wiki"; that's a common noun for a particular category of content management software. Thanks.
</nit>
Re:Does this mean by jra · 2011-01-02 06:02 · Score: 1

PS: congrats for having the sense to use HTTPS to access all possible websites. :-)

Technically... by mandark1967 · 2010-12-31 02:59 · Score: 4, Funny

It wasn't a Zombie satellite. Zombies remain dead. Plus, it didn't incessantly transmit the message, "BRAINS! It's what's for dinner!"

--
Sig Follows: "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain

Re:Technically... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-12-31 03:06 · Score: 3, Interesting

But the satellite is now UNdead! Doesn't that make it MORE of a zombie?
Re:Technically... by volxdragon · 2010-12-31 03:16 · Score: 2

But the satellite is now UNdead! Doesn't that make it MORE of a zombie?
Oh crap, now they have to roll 1d20 to make their saving throw...
Re:Technically... by EnsilZah · 2010-12-31 03:43 · Score: 0

Or possibly a religious figure.
Re:Technically... by morgan_greywolf · 2010-12-31 03:59 · Score: 1

Same thing.

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Re:Technically... by Deathlizard · 2010-12-31 04:11 · Score: 1

but... JesusSat doesn't have a nice ring to it...

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In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
Re:Technically... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-12-31 04:35 · Score: 0

Zombies remain dead.
Remain undead, you mean?
Re:Technically... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-12-31 06:22 · Score: 0, Funny

> But the satellite is now UNdead! Doesn't that make it MORE of a zombie?
No, more like the satellite is now EX-dead, which makes it more like a sexually-conflicted fundamentalist Christian televangelist fond of "ministering" to the needs of gay escorts. Daily, when possible.
Re:Technically... by Anonymous+Cowar · 2010-12-31 06:49 · Score: 1

As a side note, in one of the night of the living dead movies, there's a newscast of a crashed satellite being linked to the civil unrest. So the unofficial zombie origins in the first few movies was a zombie satellite.
Re:Technically... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-12-31 07:06 · Score: 0

"It wasn't a Zombie satellite. Zombies remain dead."
So you're saying it's the son and satellite embodiment of the satellite maker?
Makes sense given who brought it back to life...
Re:Technically... by SeaFox · 2010-12-31 12:04 · Score: 1

"MessiahSat" does.
Re:Technically... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-12-31 18:29 · Score: 0

I like HamanSat.

Nuke it from the ground by Stele · 2010-12-31 03:00 · Score: 5, Funny

It's the only way to be sure.

Re:Nuke it from the ground by Anonymous Coward · 2010-12-31 06:08 · Score: 0

Well played...
Re:Nuke it from the ground by Tetsujin · 2010-12-31 07:42 · Score: 2

Nuke it from the ground: It's the only way to be sure.
That probably wouldn't work, unfortunately...
Nuclear weapons don't explode in space. The reason you get a huge explosion, heat, etc. detonating one on Earth is because radiation is soaked up by the atmosphere. If you detonate in space, you just get an intense burst of radiation... Which could still be sufficient to kill people over long distances, and it's possible this would be enough to destroy the satellite - but it's not a sure thing. You're not going to be vaporizing that satellite with a nuclear weapon.

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Bow-ties are cool.
Re:Nuke it from the ground by jra · 2011-01-02 06:04 · Score: 1

They tried:
"On May 3, an attempt at a very momentary series of strong pulses intended to cause a power system malfunction were sent to Galaxy 15. Unfortunately, this did not have the desired effect of causing a power system overload and subsequent shut down of the active transponders." --wp

I'm reminded of the ending of Independence Day aga by Anonymous Coward · 2010-12-31 03:06 · Score: 0

But who flew the ship up now that Will Smith is otherwise engaged?

Satellite death humor. by Anonymous Coward · 2010-12-31 03:08 · Score: 2, Funny

"On Dec. 23, the battery on Galaxy 15 became completely drained, Intelsat officials said. Once that happened, the satellite..." ...began drifting above its own orbit. Then it went through a long dark tunnel and was met by other dead satellites. One of them, a dazzling, indistinguishable brillance, told Galaxy 15 its mission was not over, and it had to return. With a jolt, the satellite reset itself as designed and began accepting commands from Intelsat's control center.

Mama Grizzly Bugfixes by windcask · 2010-12-31 03:30 · Score: 1, Offtopic

An emergency patch was successfully uploaded, ensuring that the conditions which caused it to 'go rogue' will not occur again.

If only the same feat could be accomplished with Sarah Palin...

Re:Mama Grizzly Bugfixes by ErikZ · 2010-12-31 03:52 · Score: 1

A pun on her book...
That's it? Really? You're wasting pixels man.

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Re:Mama Grizzly Bugfixes by windcask · 2010-12-31 04:11 · Score: 2, Funny

Well, um...well...
Yeah. That's it.
I could imply that she's gay, too. Lolerz.

I'm such a Star Trek nerd! by thomasdz · 2010-12-31 03:35 · Score: 1

I LOL-ed when I read in the article that the satellite is now "fully functional"
Just like Commander Data.

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Karma: Excellent. 15 moderator points expire sometime.

Re:I'm such a Star Trek nerd! by jftitan · 2010-12-31 05:33 · Score: 1

but in this case, the satellite doesn't have a penis. Which would be totally awkward... if it did.

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"Don't Forget to Salt the Fries"
Re:I'm such a Star Trek nerd! by mcneely.mike · 2010-12-31 06:43 · Score: 1

No, you inconsiderate clod. It's a girl satellite.... it's got two boobs, which isn't awkward at all. In fact, the other satellites are geosynchrously lining up for snacks.

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soylentnews.org Go there to enjoy the people!

Amsat-OSCAR 7 by Gordonjcp · 2010-12-31 03:37 · Score: 5, Interesting

It's worth comparing it with the venerable AO-7 satellite, which was launched in 1974 and eventually "died" when its battery failed dead short in 1981. A little over ten years later, the failed battery failed again, this time going *open* circuit and allowing the satellite to run entirely off its solar panels. So, while the satellite is illuminated by the Sun it works fairly reliably. You need to keep the power down, because it has a linear transponder so the more power you put in the more comes out - until you exceed the tiny amount produced by the solar cells. It works, though, and people communicate across the world on it every day.

Re:Amsat-OSCAR 7 by Anonymous Coward · 2010-12-31 05:51 · Score: 0

Thanks for sharing, that was really intersting and cool!

Re:I'm reminded of the ending of Independence Day by pcolaman · 2010-12-31 03:38 · Score: 1

There's always Bruce Willis or Sigourney Weaver...

Re:caused by a BSOD? by darth+dickinson · 2010-12-31 03:38 · Score: 1

Dude, nowhere in that snippet does it mention Microsoft products being used in their design. Nice try, though.

Not "American". by John+Hasler · 2010-12-31 04:05 · Score: 1

Intelsat.

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Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.

Nice story submission! by swordgeek · 2010-12-31 04:13 · Score: 4, Insightful

Seriously, three short lines which clearly convey the entire summary of the story, contains lots of links to both story and background, AND doesn't contain terrible typos! Also, geeky and interesting. This is what slashdot needs more of.

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Re:Nice story submission! by realperseus · 2010-12-31 05:12 · Score: 1

Seriously, three short lines which clearly convey the entire summary of the story, contains lots of links to both story and background, AND doesn't contain terrible typos! Also, geeky and interesting. This is what slashdot needs more of.
This just means you didn't see my 1st submission which was full of typos and mis-spellings.. :-)

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"Trusting every aspect of our lives to a giant computer was the smartest thing we ever did.." Homer Simpson
Re:Nice story submission! by Garth+Smith · 2010-12-31 07:46 · Score: 1

This just means you didn't see my 1st submission which was full of typos and mis-spellings.. :-)
You mean *gasp* Slashdot editors actually did something?!?!?!? O.O
MIND BLOWN
Re:Nice story submission! by realperseus · 2010-12-31 19:06 · Score: 1

This just means you didn't see my 1st submission which was full of typos and mis-spellings.. :-)
You mean *gasp* Slashdot editors actually did something?!?!?!? O.O
MIND BLOWN
They're out there... :-)

--
"Trusting every aspect of our lives to a giant computer was the smartest thing we ever did.." Homer Simpson
Re:Nice story submission! by jra · 2011-01-02 08:00 · Score: 1

Better be; the truth sure ain't...
Re:Nice story submission! by RockDoctor · 2011-01-02 14:51 · Score: 1

Seriously, three short lines which clearly convey the entire summary of the story, contains lots of links to both story and background, AND doesn't contain terrible typos! Also, geeky and interesting. This is what slashdot needs more of.
Then get submitting.
If you're not part of the problem, then you're part of the solution. Or something like that.
Disclaimer : I've not bothered to research your submission history. Nor do I know what the site's averages are, which might be interesting in itself.

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Just like that? by Thapa · 2010-12-31 04:20 · Score: 4, Interesting

What impresses me most is that you can just upload patches to orbiting satellites. Sounds like a party for the next DEFCON...

Re:Just like that? by Cylix · 2010-12-31 04:37 · Score: 4, Insightful

Not too long ago the norm was actually for transponders to simply be open.
Meaning if you had a means to send a signal to a particular frequency it would be easy to bounce from that transponder and relay back down. Now, if the NOC (or SOC really) caught an open transponder being used as a relay they would eventually shut it down if you were not paying for the air time.
This became a big deal during the initial war in Iraq as there were a good deal of hijack broadcasts spewing forth from across the sea. In response, they eventually began shutting down transponders until they were scheduled to be used. Either out of interest or trying to lock a particular bird I would find them at random times.
Somehow I doubt the mechanisms used on the old satellites were more obscurity then security to prevent updates.

--
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
Re:Just like that? by socz · 2010-12-31 10:37 · Score: 1

haha yeah, thats what I was thinking! BTW, do you have any connections for the ninja party? I wanted to go last year but apparently, a lot of people didn't seem to talk to my friend and I while waiting in line for talks. They'd listen in, but not really want to talk with us lol. It's like being back in highschool all over again!

--
My abilities are only limited by my imagination
Re:Just like that? by Thapa · 2010-12-31 18:09 · Score: 1

Haha, no, I don't know anyone related to DEFCON whatsoever. I just thought it'd be awesome to read about satellite hacking in some future post.
Re:Just like that? by realperseus · 2010-12-31 19:15 · Score: 1

Not too long ago the norm was actually for transponders to simply be open.
He means like this

--
"Trusting every aspect of our lives to a giant computer was the smartest thing we ever did.." Homer Simpson
Re:Just like that? by damaged_sectors · 2011-01-02 01:49 · Score: 1

Not too long ago the norm was actually for transponders to simply be open.
He means like this
The link off that page is dead, but I'll save you the trouble - Captain Midnight didn't do anything to a satellite.
Satellite hacking has been a commercially available service for some years now - don't know if they're still offering the service (their prices look a little old) but these folks can help.
An example of what's available from a hijacked surveillance drone is here.
Disclaimer:- this is just a hobby.

Windoze on Board? by Identita · 2010-12-31 04:25 · Score: 4, Funny

"We have placed Galaxy 15 in safe mode, and at this time, we are pleased to report it no longer poses any threat of satellite interference to either neighboring satellites or customer services," Intelsat officials announced." Unknown to anyone, the last shuttle launch had a secret space walk in order to hit CTRL-ALT-DEL on the sat's terminal.

Out of control from April 5th to Dec 23rd? by ZappedSparky · 2010-12-31 04:39 · Score: 1

8 months-ish,that sounds about right for "I'll get around to it".

Re:Out of control from April 5th to Dec 23rd? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-12-31 06:41 · Score: 2, Informative

From what I understand they were on it all the time but there was simply nothing they could do. The satellite's systems did not respond to commands so they basically had to wait for it to drain its batteries and have the emergency system kick in and reset it autonomously. That just happened, so now they can actually work on it again.
Re:Out of control from April 5th to Dec 23rd? by ZappedSparky · 2010-12-31 06:50 · Score: 1

Hopefully they'll be able to prevent something similar from happening again barring another intense solar storm.
Re:Out of control from April 5th to Dec 23rd? by jra · 2011-01-02 07:07 · Score: 1

Correct: the baseband control processor was what froze; the bent-pipe transponders remained active, as did the sun- and earth-pointing subsystems.
When the batteries finally drained far enough, the BBE reset itself, and the next time the panels had sun, it came up *just* long enough to let them upload the patches, and reenable the sunlocker.

Zombie satellites from OUTER SPACE!!! by sourcerror · 2010-12-31 05:18 · Score: 1

Sounds like a movie title by Ed Wood.

Triaxiality by mangu · 2010-12-31 05:19 · Score: 5, Informative

Except for two stable points at 75 and 255 degrees east longitude, any geostationary satellite suffers an East-West (or West-East) perturbation due to the earth not being a perfect sphere. This is called "triaxiality" by experts in the field.

The result is that without correcting maneuvers the satellite longitudinal position oscillates around those two stable points, even if the orbit is exactly at the geostationary altitude.

Re:Triaxiality by Will.Woodhull · 2010-12-31 08:20 · Score: 1, Interesting

Hmm. I would have thought that the ellipsoid shape of the Earth would have less influence on an equatorial orbit than the changing relationship of that orbit to the Earth - Moon barycenter.
Relative to our frame of reference on the surface of the Earth, a geosynchronous orbit would of course be stationary above someone's head, while the barycenter would be rushing around some 2,000 km below our feet at an angular speed of 15 degrees/hr, wandering more than 30 degrees north and south of the equator on a seasonal basis. Since all Earth satellites orbit around the barycenter rather than the geometric center of the Earth, you would expect the Earth's dense core to be the primary cause of orbital perturbations.
But what do I know? Any astronomers or rocket scientists want to jump in here?
As an aside, the barycenter does its dance in the bottom of the mantle, just a little bit above the liquid outer core ( here is a quick depth guide. My understanding is that to date, geologists are not trained to look at possible astronomy influences when building models of the Earth's interior, and astronomers do not consider the inside of the Earth to be in their province. So perhaps something very interesting is going on in this region that has so far been overlooked. Or perhaps the barycenter dancing on the margins of the liquid core is just one of those weird coincidences that only a whacko would consider. You know, like continental drift.
It would be really nice to hear from some persons who know a thing or two about this kind of stuff.

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Will
Re:Triaxiality by mangu · 2010-12-31 08:46 · Score: 5, Insightful

I have worked with geostationary satellite control for over twenty years, so I know a bit about this. The masses on the earth aren't distributed evenly, the higher density of the rock in some parts pull the satellite to the east or the west.
You are right in that the perturbation caused by the moon is several orders of magnitude larger than the one caused by this slight longitudinal asymmetry. It's only for satellites that are either in geostationary orbit or in 12 hour period orbits that this effect becomes significant.
For other orbits the pull in one direction is compensated by a pull in the opposite direction when the satellite comes around the earth. For geostationary orbits, however, the perturbation is always in the same direction, because the satellite is always in the same position with respect to the mass asymmetry, so the effect adds up in time.
Typically a geostationary satellite needs correcting East-West maneuvers every couple of weeks or so. These maneuvers consume about 10% of the total fuel budget for station keeping, inclination maneuvers consume the other 90%. This goes to show how stronger the perturbations caused by the sun, moon, and earth's ellipsoid shape, which cause the inclination of the orbit to increase, are compared to the triaxial density asymmetry.
Re:Triaxiality by Will.Woodhull · 2010-12-31 19:50 · Score: 1

Thank you very much! I found your explanation lucid and succinct, and I learned something new from it.

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Will
Re:Triaxiality by hvm2hvm · 2011-01-01 02:38 · Score: 1

I would have modded you up if there was a +1 "nice and enthusiastic guy" :D

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ics
Re:Triaxiality by Profane+MuthaFucka · 2011-01-04 14:04 · Score: 1

Also, he's really an expert at blowjobs, but you wouldn't guess that from the size of his satellite dish.

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Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!

Going rogue by yoblin · 2010-12-31 05:26 · Score: 2

An emergency patch was successfully uploaded, ensuring that the conditions which caused it to 'go rogue' will not occur again.

Sounds exactly like the marketing-speak I use when people find bugs in my code... Sounds better than "we screwed up"

Re:Going rogue by hawkfish · 2010-12-31 12:03 · Score: 1

I just assumed Sarah Palin was involved ;-)

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You will not drink with us, but you would taste our steel? - Walter Matthau, The Pirates

Re:I'm reminded of the ending of Dr. Strangelove by mcneely.mike · 2010-12-31 06:40 · Score: 1

Or Slim Pickens.... cowboy hat a'flyin', with a 'Yeeee Hawww'. It could happen.

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I wonder... by Drakkenmensch · 2010-12-31 06:52 · Score: 1

Hey guys, we got the satel- Assuming direct control.

There goes any hope of peaceful contact by Anonymous Coward · 2010-12-31 07:15 · Score: 0

Firstly, Americans wreaking havoc wherever they go on the ground and now in space?

Kudos to the coder!!! by assemblerex · 2010-12-31 07:37 · Score: 2

I am sure that bonus is going to be REAL NICE for saving $250,000,000 in hardware from deorbit.

Re:Kudos to the coder!!! by socz · 2010-12-31 10:39 · Score: 1

but little do you know, that it was a contractor that did the work, and their employee is only a seasonal temp!

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My abilities are only limited by my imagination

Sweet! by cstacy · 2010-12-31 07:54 · Score: 0

Sweet Zombie Jesus Satellite!

Re:caused by a BSOD? by Sir_Lewk · 2010-12-31 09:27 · Score: 1

The joke is that they had to "pull the power / reboot" it, in a sense.

Lighten up dude.

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"linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)

Only one problem... by Nyder · 2010-12-31 09:49 · Score: 1

All the tranmissions from the satellite says: "brains"

Bring it back down to earth to study closer.

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Be seeing you...

Map showing how far off by kc8jhs · 2010-12-31 09:59 · Score: 2

I was curious just how far off that is. Turns out, it's quite a bit.

Re:Map showing how far off by realperseus · 2010-12-31 14:50 · Score: 1

I was curious just how far off that is. Turns out, it's quite a bit.
Thanks! I was looking for something like that...

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"Trusting every aspect of our lives to a giant computer was the smartest thing we ever did.." Homer Simpson

Good one by AtariKee · 2010-12-31 10:13 · Score: 0

Now we don't have to worry about Galaxy 15 returning to Earth to message the Creator, and getting pissed and destroying the planet when the Creator doesn't respond, a la V-ger...

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"You're getting brutal, Sark. Brutal and needlessly sadistic."
"Thank you, Master Control"
-Sark and the MCP

And here I thought they were overdocumented... by Spykk · 2010-12-31 11:08 · Score: 1

'Zombie' Satellite Returns To Life

Have we learned nothing? If you want it to stay dead you need to destroy the brain.

Annoying by rickb928 · 2010-12-31 12:46 · Score: 0

Space.com is really annoying, with these banner ads that have the smallest close buttons, and the damned Chrome popup that hides its close button. I'm not at all sure it's worth going to those links any more. At least for me.

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deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.

OT: Geosat by jra · 2011-01-02 05:57 · Score: 1

I've just gotten a new gig at a network that feeds via AMC1, and I'm trying to find the TV satellite cabal on the web.

Any pointers?

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'Zombie' Satellite Returns To Life

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