71–80 of 94 posts
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Space Adventures have been advertising a lunar mission for a decade or so on Soyuz, they just needed two people willing to split the cost. http://www.spaceadventures.com/experiences/circumlunar-missi...
The cost given is ~"it depends, contact us" (ie they don't give a cost).
Since there seem to be some people from the industry around, I’d like to ask: how are we doing with writing software for such safety-critical systems? Do we still use C and try to have it statically verified by various tools? Write the software multiple times and have instances of the functionally same systems running in parallel, Andy see if they agree on which action should be taken? Can dependent and/or linear typ…
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"...as opposed to good old fashioned incremental engineering" There was no opportunity cost. You can have both.
you can hire the people to work in engineering teams, instead of having them work in weird, not too constructive competition settings
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I interviewed at SpaceX and asked them what they use to write code that runs in the rocket. It's all plain C and everything must be declared before hand - in other words, there are no dynamic allocations anywhere in the code.
This is typical for embedded software in cars, planes etc. Most of that C code will be generated though.
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I know what people mean when they say "dark side of the moon" but it always bothers me. There is no "dark side" to the moon. The picture that got stuck in my head was seeing the moon transit the earth: http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2015/08/21/4296866.ht... Beautiful picture.
Isn't it the dark side of the moon, since spacecraft passing behind the moon go 'dark'; out of radio contact since the moon blocks radio signals? On the other hand: it's the side of the moon that never receives earthshine. So it's dark in that sense.
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This is typical for embedded software in cars, planes etc. Most of that C code will be generated though.
What would you be generating the C from? Are there any open-source tools that generate this kind of C?
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True, that would strengthen the business case for participants in subsequent competitions.
Disagree. What’s the management cliché? SMART goals — Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Assignable, Relevant/Realistic, Time-bound. Without a time constraint, most people[citation needed] keep putting things off until later.
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Considering that there's little time left, your payload (and business model) has severe constraints. Unless you have something pre-developed and nearly ready to launch (e.g. at a university), aim for something simple. That leaves you mostly with media attention (sponsors), technology demos (e.g. for third parties), paraphernalia/vanity items that wealthy individuals or communities pay for (no remains or religious art…
>>(no remains or religious artifacts please) I can imagine some rich people would find it pretty cool to have an urn of their ashes left on the moon.
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There are a lot of X Prizes. Many, like the lunar prize, are not dangerous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Prize_Foundation The entire debate about a particular prize being nothing more than a stunt is a debate that doesn't fit well on HN. A private group getting to the moon and sending video back, could inspire others, which could get NASA a larger budget, or lead to more VC funding.
> The entire debate about a particular prize being nothing more than a stunt is a debate that doesn't fit well on HN The article compares the Ansari X Prize [1], which Scaled Composites won, to the Orteig Prize [2], which Charles Lindbergh won. It's a statement on the efficiency of prizes, generally, in fostering technological change. Not a complaint abut a specific prize. The evidence the author collects, across mul…
Since there seem to be some people from the industry around, I’d like to ask: how are we doing with writing software for such safety-critical systems? Do we still use C and try to have it statically verified by various tools? Write the software multiple times and have instances of the functionally same systems running in parallel, Andy see if they agree on which action should be taken? Can dependent and/or linear typ…