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

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

#251

Post by pbhjpbhj »

Freestyler_3 wrote: post #232
omikun wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How could it have been reworded to avoid the "fedora-tipping" connotation? I'm being sincere here since I also appreciate book recommendations and I get probably half my book recommendations from HN.

I think the point is to instead of using the keyboard, use the mouse to click the up arrow, and leave it at that. (I know how tempting it is to reply quickly to something, I have the urge to just post whats going on my mind right away unfiltered. So I am very forgiving, but not everyone is)

That only tells the person who owns the comment that you appreciate it, with comment scores you're correct that almost all "I like this" comments are wrong, without comment scores then they become useful again.

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

#252

Post by pbhjpbhj »

ISL wrote: post #113
qzw wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

What a wonderful visual representation of the notion that, "a battle is won before it begins."

Which is a Tsun-tzu reference presumably, he says don't enter a battle unless you have 'already' won (through preparation, numerical supremacy, etc.).

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

#253

Post by rajandatta »

Anyone else look at the headline and feel this is one of the dumbest headlines ever. It makes it sound like NASA's incompetent. 'Why haven't you fixed Hubble yet?'.

There doesn't seem to be any nuance or respect that they're trying to repair an orbiting telescope that was launched 30 years ago and designed 40 years ago - and that people are patiently trying to sort through a fully autonomous system 400 miles above the surface of the Earth with a very large set of failure options.

For me - huge props to NASA and other organizations that do this kind of work and keep these systems running for decades. I need to reboot Windows every 2-3 days

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

#254

Post by caycep »

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.

Someone is going to suggest unplugging it and plugging it in again, i'm sure

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

#255

Post by pbhjpbhj »

wongarsu wrote: post #209
mikeytown2 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gyroscopes are in short supply on Hubble currently

And that despite regular servicing back when we still had the Space Shuttle. Hubble started out with 6 gyroscopes, in 1996 they replaced four of them, by 1999 four had failed so they replaced all six, by 2009 three had failed again, so they replaced all six. Now they are again down to three, and one of the remaining ones has a defect that required some workarounds. The last three gyros are at least a new design that…

It sounds like a specific failure of gyros, what characteristic causes that failure? Are they more susceptible to cosmic rays or something? Do you know how they've mitigated that failure?

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

#256

Post by erosenbe0 »

bumby wrote: post #243
falcrist wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worth noting that the people in that movie were WAY more loud and emotional than the real NASA engineers and operators. You can see how NASA people react to tough situations by watching the videos of mission control during the Challenger and Columbia disasters. No shouting. No arguments. Just cool professionalism and restrained emotions. They have a job to do, and they do it well even under stress. "Steely-eyed…

> the people in that movie were WAY more loud and emotional than the real NASA engineers and operators. There are plenty of NASA engineers and leaders who lose their cool. I’m only saying that so people don’t overly lionize them in a way that prevents them from pursuing a similar job because they feel they are somehow cut from a different cloth.

Everybody knows that when presented with the irrefutable evidence that the Challenger o-rings would fail, they more or less just let the astronauts die. Definitely cut from same cloth as any other org.

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

#257

Post by spockz »

rajandatta wrote: post #253

Anyone else look at the headline and feel this is one of the dumbest headlines ever. It makes it sound like NASA's incompetent. 'Why haven't you fixed Hubble yet?'. There doesn't seem to be any nuance or respect that they're trying to repair an orbiting telescope that was launched 30 years ago and designed 40 years ago - and that people are patiently trying to sort through a fully autonomous system 400 miles above th…

To me this title comes across as just factual and not diminutive in any way.

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

#259

Post by mhh__ »

rajandatta wrote: post #253

Anyone else look at the headline and feel this is one of the dumbest headlines ever. It makes it sound like NASA's incompetent. 'Why haven't you fixed Hubble yet?'. There doesn't seem to be any nuance or respect that they're trying to repair an orbiting telescope that was launched 30 years ago and designed 40 years ago - and that people are patiently trying to sort through a fully autonomous system 400 miles above th…

> Anyone else look at the headline and feel this is one of the dumbest headlines ever. It makes it sound like NASA's incompetent. 'Why haven't you fixed Hubble yet?'.

I didn't get that impression.

This does intrigue me - I like browsing hackernews, but I often get the impression that some people (not the PC specifically) here are either ridiculously anal about English or genuinely do not parse sentences the way I do.

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

#260

Post by jbuhbjlnjbn »

pc86 wrote: post #195
kbelder wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conversation.

It's arguably even worse than just commenting "This." At least that is small enough you can scan over it and barely even register its existence. But this fedora-tipping "Thank you kind sir this is the type of Internet Content I enjoy!" doesn't even afford you that luxury.

I really dislike the downvote function because it reinforces self-censoring. And I completely loathe the implementation of it, you need xxxx upvotes to downvote posts....I have no words.

Well, in opposing it I especially read the faded comments and upvote any of those that are not completely abhorrent.

Take that, ycombinator.

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