Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 333 posts

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

#91

Post by baryphonic »

fouric wrote: post #17

I know that, at different times, NASA has used Forth[1] and Lisp[2] in some of their space applications. Both of these languages offer REPLs that generally accelerate the debugging process, and while your "average" Lisp might be unsuitable for hard real-time applications (due to the presence of a garbage collector, usually without the hard real-time constraints that you can get out of garbage collectors with extreme…

> while your "average" Lisp might be unsuitable for hard real-time applications (due to the presence of a garbage collector, usually without the hard real-time constraints that you can get out of garbage collectors with extreme effort), I wonder if they have some equivalently interactive system on-board the while your "average" Lisp might be unsuitable for hard real-time applications (due to the presence of a garbage collector, usually without the hard real-time constraints that you can get out of garbage collectors with extreme effort), I wonder if they have some equivalently interactive system on-board the Hubble.

This is fascinating to me. Do you have any pointers to information/research/projects focused on hard real-time garbage collection? A Lisp with hard real-time garbage collection (even if Herculean to implement) would be fantastic.

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

#92

Post by jandrese »

recov wrote: post #58
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?

Interesting thought. I would say something like the hubble transcends politcal/governmental boundaries... although I do wonder how much if its software is used in other secretive satellites.

Hubble is basically a repurposed spy satellite so it may still be sensitive. Although I doubt any of its sisters are still flying.

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

#93

Post by jandrese »

datalus wrote: post #57

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

The Space Shuttle is the only vehicle ever built that can do in-orbit service. It's not that the Hubble is special in that regard, it is that the Shuttle was special.

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

#94

Post by jandrese »

prog17analyst1 wrote: post #34

I know people say this a lot, but in this case I really think a (at least partial) rewrite in Rust of the Hubble software would be very beneficial. We could gather some of the most distinguished coders here in hacker-news and create a task force to show them the benefits of rust's memory safety.

I'm pretty sure Hubble didn't crash due to a memory overflow. It is almost certainly a hardware failure somewhere, and Rust's memory safety won't help you if a failed bus or flaky memory chip is corrupting your data.

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

#95

Post by abnry »

keanebean86 wrote: post #74
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.

This would be cool for earth satellites. On the other hand watching a stream involving something on Mars, let alone voyager, would be pretty boring! Send: ls Ok let's take a 20 minute break.

Job Posting: NASA programmer, needs at least 1 wpm typing speed and experience with compiling large projects.

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

#96

Post by Koshkin »

slver wrote: post #87
sharkweek wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“It’s all in your head, but so is everything.”

Technically the universe is projected into our brain and we only perceive that projection. The problem is that it's a very shitty projection.

Good enough not to miss the bowl.

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

#97

Post by desktopninja »

beprogrammed wrote: post #72
desktopninja wrote: post #62

I wonder if NASA would welcome a live worldwide collaboration to try solve this problem.

Too many cooks in the kitchen. Despite the article trying to phrase it as if they have no idea what to do, they know there computer incredibly well, it's a matter of going through the steps and isolating the problem.

RE: Too many cooks in the kitchen. Very right. But sometimes I think humans can behave well.

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

#98

Post by barbazoo »

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

Both: Dance around for 10 minutes trying to out-physics each other

Guy 1: Why don't I just poke him with the pointy bit

Great scene though, makes me want to watch the whole movie.

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

#100

Post by afterburner »

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.

I think what you're really saying is you'd watch the movie version of this.

And considering there are no life or death stakes, it still wouldn't be as exciting as Apollo 13.

Post reply on HN