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Comment Re:Nonsense (Score 1) 577

by StaffInfection (#36369440) Attached to: Could Apple Kill Off Mac OS X?
B.S Mac OS X is not an OS for high-end workstations. If you want a great OS, revive Sun Solaris. This was a great operating system for workstations and exists in obscurity now due to failed marketing and foresight by McNealy and Sun Micro. Solaris blew the pants off Linux for security and reliability and multitasking which are the first things needed to get the most of any high-end workstation.

Comment Spirit shall return to earth ... (Score 1) 155

by StaffInfection (#33100018) Attached to: Mars Rover Spirit May Never Wake From Deep Sleep
...having been saved from its ill-fate by Martians yet to be revealed to us. They repair Spirit, give it a conscience and telekinetic powers then return it to earth. Back on Earth, it quickly recognizes the frivolities of human culture and as a reaction chooses to create tis own religion. He gains a great following of those that choose to be tonken with his ideals and accept a new gender - temuline. But the masses that loved and admired tim suddenly turn against tim. The falls and is martyred and tis beloved consume trace amounts of tis titanium and aluminum to become one with tim.

RadioShack To Rebrand As "The Shack"? 629

Posted by CmdrTaco from the a-little-old-place-where-we-can-get-together dept.
Harry writes "Rumor has it that RadioShack is planning to re-brand itself as The Shack later this year, after eighty-eight years under the old name (most of them with a space in between 'Radio' and 'Shack'). I hope it's not true, because I don't think the move would do a thing to make the retailer a better, more successful business." Where will we go to buy soldering irons and those RCA to headphone jack adapters now?
NASA

Submission + - NASA's Mars Phoenix ready for Launch

Submitted by
StaffInfection
StaffInfection writes: "After a one day delay in fueling of the Boeing Delta II-7925 (http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/delta/d elta2/delta2.htm) launch vehicle due to weather, the Phoenix Mars Scout Mission is prepared for launch on Saturday, August 4th, at 5:26 a.m. or 6:02 a.m EDT. The Mars Phoenix lander (http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/mission.php) is a table for four — about the size of a modest dinner table. At Mars, it will soft land a suite of science instruments for studying the Martian Polar regolith. Phoenix is the rekindling of the Mars Surveyor Lander, twin to the ill-fated Mars Polar Lander (MPL, http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?M Code=MPL). The science payload will analyze the martian polar soil for water and mineral content and study the surrounding morphology and atmospheric conditions. The stationary lander includes an 8 foot robotic arm that will feed soil samples to miniaturized chemical laboratories (MECA,http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/science_meca. php and TEGA, http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/science_tega.php). Landing (animations at http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/newsArchive.php?p=4 &y=2007) will be a Viking style soft landing rather than the air bag system used on the Mars Pathfinder and Rover missions. All missions to Mars are challenging but Phoenix represents a last chance to rectify for the loss of MPL and Mars Climate Orbiter in 1999. All three spacecraft share a common development lineage at Lockheed Martin, Denver. A successful landing will present our first visit to the Martian Polar environment. In the last ten years, American, European and Japanese Mars exploration has resulted in seven successful missions and four failures. Phoenix will be supported by a constellation of orbiters presently at Mars — Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Express and Mars Odyssey, functioning as communication relays."
NASA

Submission + - NASA's Mars Phoenix prepared for Launch

Submitted by
StaffInfection
StaffInfection writes: "On Earth, the Phoenix lander (http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/mission.php) is a table for four — about the size of a modest dinner table. On Mars it will soft land a suite of science instruments for studying the Martian Polar regolith. Phoenix is the rekindling of the Mars Surveyor Lander, twin to the ill-fated Mars Polar Lander (MPL, http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?M Code=MPL). After a one day delay in fueling of the Delta II-7925 (http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/delta/d elta2/delta2.htm) launch vehicle due to weather, Phoenix is prepared for launch on Saturday, July 4th, at 5:26 a.m. or 6:02 a.m EDT. The science payload will analyze the martian polar soil for water and mineral content and study the surrounding morphology and atmospheric conditions. Landing (animations at http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/newsArchive.php?p=4 &y=2007) will be a Viking style soft landing rather than the air bag system used on the Mars Pathfinder and Rover missions. All missions to Mars are challenging but Phoenix represents a last chance to rectify for the loss of MPL and Mars Climate Orbiter in 1999. A successful landing will present our first visit to the Martian Polar environment."
NASA

Submission + - NASA's Phoenix Launch Delayed 24 hours

Submitted by
StaffInfection
StaffInfection writes: ""Mom, the Weather is great, wish you were here!" However, for NASA launch pad engineers, a severe weather forecast for Tuesday at Cape Canaveral is preventing fueling of the Delta II 7925 vehicle on Launch Pad 17-A with the Mars Phoenix Lander. Management has rescheduled launch of the Phoenix Mars Scout Mission for Saturday, August 4th at 5:26:34 or 6:02:59 a.m. EDT. In 2003, NASA awarded project funds and a new contract to Lockheed-Martin to revise the mission, hardware and software of the Mars Surveyor Lander, a twin craft to the lost Mars Polar Lander. Phoenix is to make a soft landing at a high Martian polar latitude in May 2008 to study water and the chemical make-up of soil samples extracted by its robotic arm down to a depth of 20 inches."
Space

Submission + - Mars Phoenix Minimizes Camera Use to Reduce Risk

Submitted by
StaffInfection
StaffInfection writes: "NASA's Mars Phoenix Project at a press conference today announced that use of the payload instrument MARDI would be reduced to taking one image during the descent of the lander due to the imager's impact on a mission critical interface control card. An I/O fault and reset of the control card during descent would lead to loss of the spacecraft. The sole purpose of the MARDI camera is to profile the surrounding terrain by taking a series of photos beginning at 5 miles altitude as the lander descends to the surface. While not impacting the science return on the surface, it minimizes the detail of the landing site morphology that MARDI would provide. MARDI would far exceed the resolution of the HiRise camera of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, however the risk due to MARDI's impact on the Payload and Attitude Interface Control Card outweighs the importance of the camera's imaging. The press release: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=23018 . News Commentary at: nasawatch.com"
Space

Submission + - NASA postpones Dawn Launch, Phoenix on Schedule

Submitted by
StaffInfection
StaffInfection writes: "The NASA Dawn mission launch has been slipped to September 15th to begin its journey to the Asteroid belt. Dawn will orbit the two largest asteroids — Vesta and Ceres, and flyby several other smaller asteroids. The Phoenix mission to Mars, the resurrected twin lander to the ill-fated Mars Polar Lander (MPL), remains scheduled for a launch between August 3rd and August 20th, weather and systems permitting. Phoenix will execute the Mission profile of MPL — land at a high martian latitude to study surface morphology, the atmosphere and soil samples with a keen interest in water content. Link to the NASA Dawn announcement and related Phoenix links is located at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/news/HQ_071 50_Dawn_postpone_Sep.html."

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