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NASA can't figure out what's causing computer issues on the Hubble telescope

npr.org

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Re: NASA can't figure out what's causing computer issues on the Hubble telescope

#61

Post by setug »

beerandt wrote: post #50
setug wrote: post #31

Wouldn't it be a good idea to open the source code for community inspection? Of course NASA would panic with Russia and China inspecting for "hostile" actions, but hey, if they don't know what to do, why not calling the expert reverse engineers of the world?

Idk about the payload computer, but I've got to think guidance and operation controls would have at least some remnants of legacy keyhole technology, or would expose hardware details that might still be sensitive information, even if the software was a total rewrite.

It's a 30/40-yr old code and hardware. Now that I think about it, the problem could be related to some "exotic" decisions made by that time...

Re: NASA can't figure out what's causing computer issues on the Hubble telescope

#65

Post by mkarr »

Koshkin wrote: post #14
qzw wrote: post #7

pushes up glasses I would watch the heck out of a Twitch stream of their debugging/brainstorming sessions. I always loved the movie Apollo 13 , especially the technical troubleshooting parts.

Debugging on a computer that is down is not a very exciting process.

pg down

Sigh.

pg down

Sigh

...

Repeat for hours.

Re: NASA can't figure out what's causing computer issues on the Hubble telescope

#66

Post by Denvercoder9 »

datalus wrote: post #57

How specific is the Hubble that you can only repair it with the Space Shuttle? o_O

It doesn't have anything to do with specificity, the Space Shuttle was just the only manned spacecraft powerful enough to get out to Hubble's orbit and back, and that had an airlock so you could actually access Hubble.

Re: NASA can't figure out what's causing computer issues on the Hubble telescope

#67

Post by beerandt »

setug wrote: post #61
beerandt wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Idk about the payload computer, but I've got to think guidance and operation controls would have at least some remnants of legacy keyhole technology, or would expose hardware details that might still be sensitive information, even if the software was a total rewrite.

It's a 30/40-yr old code and hardware. Now that I think about it, the problem could be related to some "exotic" decisions made by that time...

Lots of 30/40 year old hardware is still classified, especially spy technology.

Re: NASA can't figure out what's causing computer issues on the Hubble telescope

#68

Post by avaldes »

qzw wrote: post #44
Koshkin wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Debugging on a computer that is down is not a very exciting process.

In the movie Hero [0], two kung fu masters fight a battle purely in their minds. And when the mental fight was over, they only execute one physical move to finish the battle. Think of this as the computer equivalent of that scene. [0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0299977/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Like the battle between Sherlock and Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows?

Re: NASA can't figure out what's causing computer issues on the Hubble telescope

#70

Post by Denvercoder9 »

Koshkin wrote: post #45
desktopninja wrote: post #20

For pure comedic value: Someone deployed a K8s cluster on hubble and now its lost DNS because the master nodes connected to a starlink satellite

This is good: Starlink or such would be probably an ideal way to connect a space telescope (or any spacecraft) to the internet.

Actually, it wouldn't be. Starlink orbits at about the same altitude, but the satellites have their radio antenna pointed downwards to Earth, so they can't connect with each other.
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