Re: Mars Rover Not Responding

From: Uncle Al (UncleAl0_at_hate.spam.net)
Date: 01/26/04 

Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 09:16:32 -0800

"Jan C. Vorbrüggen" wrote:
>
> > NASA is renowned for its antenna failures - the Hubble space
> > telescope,
>
> HST didn't and doesn't have antenna problems.

It sure as Hell did. When they got it up there NASA discovered that
the high gain antenna feed cable intersected space swept out by the
high gain antenna. The technical term for this is "pookie pookie."

> > Ulysses at Jupiter
>
> That one is going 'round the sun, and has had no problems of the sort.

The Jupiter orbiter could never deploy its high gain antenna. While
NASA spurted all over the Media for years, data was being received at
a rate recalling Radio Shack computers and their modems. Only a very
small fraction of the collected data was ever relayed. What a
successful mission.
 
> > and now their little radio-controlled go-cart on Mars.
>
> ...which isn't having an antenna problem, either.

No. It turns out $240 million won't custom-build a NASA FlashRAM card
as good as one can purchase at Radio Shack. That's no surprise. $1
billion could not grind and polish a NASA version of a Keyhole spy
satellite main optic available off the shelf. In pure NASA Korporate
Kulture tradition, the old fart optician who screamed about the
Hubble's mirrror blank being rough ground to the wrong spec was fired
very early on. It cost another $billion to fix it in orbit.

FOR THE EMPIRICALPRICE OF FINALLY DOING HUBBLE CORRECTLY, NASA COULD
HAVE BUILT AND ORBITED NEARLY THREE OF THEM USING KEYHOLE SATELLITE
OFF THE SHELF PLANS AND PARTS.
[snip]

Taking a picture of Martian dirt is not a major triumph. We already
have surface meterological and chemical data. Unless a nice block of
limestone turns up, with included fossils, this has been a huge and
hugely expensive bull*** party. How many Enron ex-executives are
working at NASA? 

-- 
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
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