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NASA regains contact with mini-helicopter on Mars

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Re: NASA regains contact with mini-helicopter on Mars

#101

Post by zelphirkalt »

jeffparsons wrote: post #98
Rebelgecko wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The vehicle itself is mostly C++ but there's lots of python in the ground station and data processing

Wow, I somehow never imagined that even NASA's technology choices would be influenced by "all the data stuff being for Python". But I guess if it's all sandboxed and any errors are reversible... then why not? It all makes rational sense. It just feels weird to think about Python running on Mars before there's even people there.

GP stated, that there is a lot of Python based stuff on the ground though, as I read it. Not necessarily on Mars.

Re: NASA regains contact with mini-helicopter on Mars

#102

Post by zelphirkalt »

inamberclad wrote: post #65
csdreamer7 wrote: post #25

On Jupiter Broadcasting there was a lot of interviews on how this was a Linux powered device and could be the first of many new Linux devices on Mars by JPL. If I remembered correctly they used a space hardened Power cpu with an ancient version of Yocto since the newer versions of it did not have working drivers. When the rover had an issue they actually used the helicoptor's userspace command line GNU utilities to d…

Fun fact - the cameras that captures Perseverance's landing are also Linux based and vim is installed - at least on the later model that I worked with.

Hopefully some engineer on the ground used Emacs to access the command line remotely, to run Vim, so that we are back on equal footing :D

Re: NASA regains contact with mini-helicopter on Mars

#103

Post by cwillu »

standardUser wrote: post #97

I'm curious how long they expected it to remain in working condition. NASA has a habit of underestimating lifespans by a comical amount. It will be like "we expected the rover to operate for 10 weeks and that was 6 years ago". I think the most extreme example is Voyager 1, which was on a 5-year mission that reached nearly 50 years.

“We need the rover to operate for 10 weeks and will be discredited as an organization if it fails at 9” is what causes that. It's not necessarily a bad thing.

Re: NASA regains contact with mini-helicopter on Mars

#104

Post by wredue »

tazjin wrote: post #91
heavyset_go wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a terrifying anecdote.

Consider how many governments signed 8+ figure contracts to develop apps. Why would this kind of waste be any different in other industries? It's humans all the way down ;)

Dude. It’s nowhere near just governments that sign comically inflated contracts.

Anyone dealing with oracle, ibm, sas, hp, Microsoft and hordes of others are not strangers to seeing a $500,000 bill for basically nothing in B2B.

We hear about the government ones cause duh.

Re: NASA regains contact with mini-helicopter on Mars

#105

Post by zelphirkalt »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #82
rajamaka wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine NASA is built and operated on a foundation of thousands of spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are the best thing in computing since a Lisp REPL. Half of the startups today would be much better (in terms of utility, simplicity and ergonomics) for users and customers if they were served in form of a downloadable Excel sheet.

Almost agree, 'xcept for the "Excel" part, which I would switch against "spreadsheet".

Re: NASA regains contact with mini-helicopter on Mars

#106

Post by CuriousCosmic »

standardUser wrote: post #97

I'm curious how long they expected it to remain in working condition. NASA has a habit of underestimating lifespans by a comical amount. It will be like "we expected the rover to operate for 10 weeks and that was 6 years ago". I think the most extreme example is Voyager 1, which was on a 5-year mission that reached nearly 50 years.

They planned for three 90 second flights prior to launch. After those worked they transitioned over to longer "operations demo" flights and those were extended tentatively out to 12 flights. After the 21st flight they just stopped manually allocating labor and funding to the project for a set number of flights and instead gave them a running budget for indefinite continued operations.

So while "strictly speaking" they planned for three 90 second flights. There was the unstated assumption that it'd be used for much more than that as long as it actually worked effectively.

Re: NASA regains contact with mini-helicopter on Mars

#107

Post by hhh »

inamberclad wrote: post #65
csdreamer7 wrote: post #25

On Jupiter Broadcasting there was a lot of interviews on how this was a Linux powered device and could be the first of many new Linux devices on Mars by JPL. If I remembered correctly they used a space hardened Power cpu with an ancient version of Yocto since the newer versions of it did not have working drivers. When the rover had an issue they actually used the helicoptor's userspace command line GNU utilities to d…

Fun fact - the cameras that captures Perseverance's landing are also Linux based and vim is installed - at least on the later model that I worked with.

What make & model of camera are these?

Re: NASA regains contact with mini-helicopter on Mars

#108

Post by anonomousename »

0x6c6f6c wrote: post #100
hackernewds wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is this a joke about America?

It's a joke about mass vs weight, since the imperial "pound" is unspecific as to being pound-_mass_ or pound-_force_, the latter being based on Earth's standard gravitional field. The conversion of kilograms, mass, to pound-force, weight, relies explicitly on the given acceleration of Earth's gravity, ~9.8 m/s². Since Mars has a gravity with acceleration ~3.7 m/s², for two things that weight the same on Earth and Mar…

Excellent explanation! Although 1 lb * 32.2 ft/sec^2 = 32.2lbf.

Re: NASA regains contact with mini-helicopter on Mars

#109

Post by xedrac »

wredue wrote: post #104
tazjin wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider how many governments signed 8+ figure contracts to develop apps. Why would this kind of waste be any different in other industries? It's humans all the way down ;)

Dude. It’s nowhere near just governments that sign comically inflated contracts. Anyone dealing with oracle, ibm, sas, hp, Microsoft and hordes of others are not strangers to seeing a $500,000 bill for basically nothing in B2B. We hear about the government ones cause duh.

$500k in government is chump change. As ridiculous as some of these business deals are, they are not even on the same planet as government contracts.

Re: NASA regains contact with mini-helicopter on Mars

#110

Post by inamberclad »

hhh wrote: post #107
inamberclad wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fun fact - the cameras that captures Perseverance's landing are also Linux based and vim is installed - at least on the later model that I worked with.

What make & model of camera are these?

They're USB cameras. I don't know the vendor, but I worked with 4 cameras wired back to a small Linux computer.
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