[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Spirit Restored to Health
From: MexicoDoug_at_aol.com <MexicoDoug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:19 2004 Message-ID: <45.43d100c.2d4f4245_at_aol.com> --part1_45.43d100c.2d4f4245_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 2/1/2004 11:47:39 PM Eastern Standard Time, baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov writes: > Many of the deleted files were left over from the seven-month flight from > Florida to Mars. "...seven-month flight from Florida..." That really has a cozy sound to it! Things haven't changed much since Intro to Remote Sensing class by my favorite electrical engineering professor. My calculator died in the middle of a Simpson's Rule of a black body radiation integral ... for all the incredibly commendable foresight at JPL, we're still all students sometime, I guess. What type of operating system or machine language environment is being used? How many megabytes is the total flash memory's capacity? The other memory's capacity ... how large is that? Inquiring minds would love to know. How does the Rover communication bit rate compare with a vainilla DSL line? Can this one be pinned on Bill Gates III or Linus or Larry Ellison? How did JPL forget to do its housekeeping on the computer ... or ... never test the memory limits (? no way !! ?) ... or ... what sort of contingency might have been missed? NASA !! ... please should tell whatever it can, certainly done incredible things for the world, but no one is perfect and a teflon image wrong - it is counterculture to continuous improvement and transparency. Computer memory problems! NASA seems so much more down to Earth. That's a good thing, in my opinion since it's not too serious, so thankfully, to the reactive software troubleshooters ... no real lasting harm seems been done (except for waiting for the system to come on line and not being productive) and most of the normal world can now relate. So please tell us what really happened ... And I thank the heavens that the system is back up again. Hope the Martian Rovers aren't like all the Earth PC's I've had, they never seems to be the same after the first system crash, even after a complete reformat / reload. That usually worked with Dr. Smith's Mechanical Friend, the Bubble Headed Booby on Lost in Space (The B9 Robot). With all due respect ... and I mean ALL ... if everything continues well, this might be quite humorous to some to imagine the Rover repeatedly rebooting on the surface of Mars, the Martians that were watching that sight probably think we're a real friendly bunch now too. My very very best wishes !! (And if anything goes wrong, strike any humor ... this message is only to relieve some of the stress caused by the memory problems ... assuming they are overcome decisively). Saludos Doug Dawn Mexico --part1_45.43d100c.2d4f4245_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <HTML><FONT FACE=3Darial,helvetica><HTML><FONT SIZE=3D2 PTSIZE=3D10 FAMILY= =3D"SANSSERIF" FACE=3D"Arial" LANG=3D"0">In a message dated 2/1/2004 11:47:3= 9 PM Eastern Standard Time, baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov writes:<BR> <BR> <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=3DCITE style=3D"BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT= : 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Many of the deleted files were=20= left over from the seven-month flight from Florida to Mars. </BLOCKQUOTE><BR= > <BR> "...seven-month flight from Florida..." That really has a cozy sound t= o it! Things haven't changed much since Intro to Remote Sensing=20= class by my favorite electrical engineering professor. My calculator d= ied in the middle of a Simpson's Rule of a black body radiation integral ...= for all the incredibly commendable foresight at JPL, we're still all studen= ts sometime, I guess.<BR> <BR> What type of operating system or machine language environment is being used?= How many megabytes is the total flash memory's capacity? The ot= her memory's capacity ... how large is that? Inquiring minds would lov= e to know. How does the Rover communication bit rate compare with a va= inilla DSL line? Can this one be pinned on Bill Gates III or Linus or=20= Larry Ellison? How did JPL forget to do its housekeeping on the comput= er ... or ... never test the memory limits (? no way !! ?) ... or ... what s= ort of contingency might have been missed? NASA !! ... please should t= ell whatever it can, certainly done incredible things for the world, b= ut no one is perfect and a teflon image wrong - it is counterculture to cont= inuous improvement and transparency. <BR> <BR> Computer memory problems! NASA seems so much more down to Earth. = That's a good thing, in my opinion since it's not too serious, so thankfull= y, to the reactive software troubleshooters ... no real lasting harm seems b= een done (except for waiting for the system to come on line and not being pr= oductive) and most of the normal world can now relate. So please tell=20= us what really happened ... And I thank the heavens that the system is back=20= up again. Hope the Martian Rovers aren't like all the Earth PC's I've=20= had, they never seems to be the same after the first system crash, even afte= r a complete reformat / reload. That usually worked with Dr. Smith's M= echanical Friend, the Bubble Headed Booby on Lost in Space (The B9 Robot).&n= bsp; With all due respect ... and I mean ALL ... if everything continues wel= l, this might be quite humorous to some to imagine the Rover repeatedly rebo= oting on the surface of Mars, the Martians that were watching that sight pro= bably think we're a real friendly bunch now too. My very very best wis= hes !! (And if anything goes wrong, strike any humor ... this message=20= is only to relieve some of the stress caused by the memory problems ... assu= ming they are overcome decisively).<BR> Saludos<BR> Doug Dawn<BR> Mexico</FONT></HTML> --part1_45.43d100c.2d4f4245_boundary-- Received on Mon 02 Feb 2004 01:03:49 AM PST |
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