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Hubble is back

nasa.gov

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Re: Hubble is back

#81

Post by dmix »

HenryBemis wrote: post #60
SpikeDad wrote: post #18

Reading about the specs and the planned degradation of the gyros is a very interesting exercise in planned reduction of a service. They know the gyros will eventually give out and they have contingency plans around what kinds of science they can continue to do even when they're down to 1 gyro. Very impressive. I'm always discouraged hearing people say NASA is wasting money and science and that's just not true IMHO.

While people may think that this is wasting money, I see that this these teams gain unieque knowledge and experience on how to resolve issues on "machines far far away", and if we are ever to explore/move humans to a new planet, you want THOSE exact teams as 'helpdesk' that use anything and everything to bring things back to life and operation.

This is assuming generational knowledge can be sufficently passed down to be useful in future missions. I'd assume this is quite a niche/specialized skillset they developed for this particular machine. The utility of the knowledge has a limited timeframe which may not justify education of the next generation of scientists.

But regardless recording it would likely be helpful as most problems in engineerings seem to recur over time in different and new contexts.

Re: Hubble is back

#82

Post by intrasight »

jrootabega wrote: post #7
gdubs wrote: post #2

“Last week the operations team commanded Hubble to perform numerous maneuvers, or turns, and switched the gyro between different operational modes, which successfully cleared what was believed to be blockage between components inside the gyro” And here I am on Earth, barely capable of debugging JavaScript code.

It's also fun to compare programming to surgery, where they work for hours straight with no backup on a production system that is actively trying to die.

This is exactly why I switched from medicine back to programming.

Re: Hubble is back

#83

Post by baldfat »

datahipster wrote: post #75

Ha! They were able to recover the failed backup gyroscope by executing a series of attitude maneuvers while switching between operational modes on the gyro. They literally shook the spacecraft and turned the gyro off-and-on. Sometimes you gotta bang on something to get it to work! I would love to buy a beer for the mission operations team member who came up with that idea!

They are the real heroes! This is such an amazing example of getting a job done.

Re: Hubble is back

#84

Post by cf498 »

datahipster wrote: post #75

Ha! They were able to recover the failed backup gyroscope by executing a series of attitude maneuvers while switching between operational modes on the gyro. They literally shook the spacecraft and turned the gyro off-and-on. Sometimes you gotta bang on something to get it to work! I would love to buy a beer for the mission operations team member who came up with that idea!

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/percussive_maintenance ftw

edit: I have to add, i just found out about the extent of the definition.

>make a malfunctioning device or person work.

Re: Hubble is back

#85

Post by [deleted] »

wildmusings wrote: post #47
howard941 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's always a lead into cutting NASA spending so remind them that it's not a zero sum thing, cutting NASA's budget isn't going to cause lower taxes, higher spending on $THINGS_SHE_PREFERS, or a fatter personal wallet, it'll just be cutting NASA's budget.

Why wouldn't it mean those things? That's the essential nature of budgeting.

[deleted]

Re: Hubble is back

#86

Post by dsfyu404ed »

mturmon wrote: post #74
BurningFrog wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I hear the original "startup" NASA from the 60s was a no deadweight organization that efficiently cranked out world class space flight. That it since followed the path of every other monopoly bureaucracy was of course unavoidable.

> ...it since followed the path of every other monopoly bureaucracy... This is not really true, but you are taking it as axiomatic.

It's a heck of a lot more true than false. Of coarse if you use a roller you need to cut in with a fine brush.

Re: Hubble is back

#87

Post by carolinaCarl »

planteen wrote: post #55
mushufasa wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i think that's true generally of any organization. pareto -- 80% of work done by 20% of workers. there's also some other law about the work being done by the square root of the total workers.

I agree the 80/20 is true of most organizations. But producing nothing and keep your job for life as long as you show up for work is not common in private industry. On the private side, I see developers get let go all the time for inadequate work.

Hmmm, so 9 to get 3 workers, 16 for 4, 25 for 5, 100 gets 10, 10,000 gets 100... Yeah, I think that about fits.

But on the other side of the table, having been forced to accepts seats at the kids table where competence is prohibited, there's this weird purgatory you're forced to cope with, like a Cassandra, being forced to nurse a Sick System. You want to take action, you certainly could intervene, take charge, and set things right, but any number of workplace taboos might be infringed upon or violated, in so doing.

I've had to sit, and watch morons bumble about, stare at hamfisted facts of existence for years on end, look but not touch, and let perfectly reasonable things burn and go to waste because my hands were tied.

Being competent enough to know better, skilled enough to intervene with success, and yet find myself in such a position where I am forbidden to do so is maddening. At some point a post-traumatic learned helplessness sets in, and you grow catatonic at the futility of struggling. If I could rewind my life, I'd love to locate the moment when I died inside. I might ballpark it back somewhere around... 2002? And yet reality still continues to unfold before these eyes.

C'est la vie.

Re: Hubble is back

#88

Post by cam_l »

dmix wrote: post #80
datahipster wrote: post #75

Ha! They were able to recover the failed backup gyroscope by executing a series of attitude maneuvers while switching between operational modes on the gyro. They literally shook the spacecraft and turned the gyro off-and-on. Sometimes you gotta bang on something to get it to work! I would love to buy a beer for the mission operations team member who came up with that idea!

I wish I could do that to my software sometimes. Just bang my computer to get it working.

It is cathartic, even if it doesn't work.

Re: Hubble is back

#89

Post by taf2 »

dmix wrote: post #80
datahipster wrote: post #75

Ha! They were able to recover the failed backup gyroscope by executing a series of attitude maneuvers while switching between operational modes on the gyro. They literally shook the spacecraft and turned the gyro off-and-on. Sometimes you gotta bang on something to get it to work! I would love to buy a beer for the mission operations team member who came up with that idea!

I wish I could do that to my software sometimes. Just bang my computer to get it working.

You can - in Javascript for example:

setTimeout(function() { ... setTimeout(function() { ... }, Math.random() 1000); }, Math.random() 1000);

// winning!

Re: Hubble is back

#90

Post by [deleted] »

fouc wrote: post #78
BurningFrog wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I hear the original "startup" NASA from the 60s was a no deadweight organization that efficiently cranked out world class space flight. That it since followed the path of every other monopoly bureaucracy was of course unavoidable.

Could tweet Trump and ask him to remove the deadweight.

[deleted]
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