The Eyes of the Space Shuttle 164
Roland Piquepaille writes "Now that Discovery astronaut Steve Robinson has successfully removed two pieces of fabric poking out of the shuttle's heat shield, a question remains: how did NASA discover these anomalies in the first place? In this article, Forbes.com writes that NASA can say thank you to a private Canadian company, Neptec, and its Laser Camera system (LCS). Neptec is working with NASA for ten years now, but it was the first time that its vision technology was used for external damage assessment of a shuttle. As NASA says it may cancel some future shuttle flights, Neptec plans to implement its 3-D imaging technology in military situations and on the battlefield. But read more for other details, references and pictures about this imaging technology."
Hey Roland, GET A JOB (Score:5, Insightful)
and stop ripping off other websites content
Re:Hey Roland, GET A JOB (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Hey Roland, GET A JOB (Score:3, Insightful)
Now that he can profit from the difficult situation on the shuttle, there's no telling what he'll do next! Buy out OSDN perhaps, so we can have Rollin' PigPile All The Time!
Two for Two! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Hey Roland, get a non-compete. (Score:1, Funny)
YEAH! That's Slashdot's job.
Re:Hey Roland, GET A JOB (Score:2, Troll)
Re:Hey Roland, GET A JOB (Score:1)
Re:Hey Roland, GET A JOB (Score:1)
Why not simply link to the original article? Why must the information go through some mediator? Why would I want that information to travel through some amateur word filter?
Re:Get A Life (Score:2)
100% Flamebait
See what I mean? Nerd TrollMods can't tell the difference between the parent Flamebait, and my flame post. Because anyone making waves must be suppressed. They might become popular, or they might become unpopular. Which might make the nerd thereby less unpopular, a status which scares the social skilless nerd.
Re:Get A Life (Score:2)
Re:Get A Life (Score:1, Flamebait)
Re:Get A Life (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Get A Life (Score:2)
In other words, a gang of obnoxious, sociopa
"nothing for you to see here..." (Score:3, Funny)
Roland - serious request (Score:5, Insightful)
You might consider doing the same for all blog-type submissions, or anything that might be construed as an ad (see the "help me port my game" submission from earlier).
Re:Roland - serious request (Score:1)
long url [google.com]
Re:Roland - serious request (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh wait, did I just describe Slashdot? I guess I did. Tee-hee.
Fuck, people, what's your problem with Roland? At least he reads the articles he's linking, finds his own content to index, puts some effort into citing his sources (which the
It's really heard to listen to the complaints you folks are raising about him, knowing that they are coming from Slashdot readers.
Some other reasons... (Score:1)
Also, his full text is rather long by Slashdot standards. Slashdot readers tend to like their news in 1 paragraph sound bytes, and then clicking a link if they care to read more. Well, isn't that what he did?
Either way, who cares. It's news. God forbid he post it anywhere outside Slashdot too!
The News Nazi: "No news
I hate playing blogscotch. (Score:3, Insightful)
I do, howe
Re:Roland - serious request (Score:2)
Neptec is working with NASA for ten years now
Tick. Yep. Checked for bad grammar.
Re:Roland - serious request (Score:2)
Re:Roland - serious request (Score:2)
Re:Roland - serious request (Score:2)
Apparently it wasn't visible enough for you to complain when the Slashdot editors said, "HEY GUYS, I THINK WE'RE GOING TO DO THIS NOW, OKAY?" but it's visible now that there's a guy who has a consistent greenlight, which gives you cause to think that he's paying?
You had your chance to speak up about this back when they started doing it a couple years ag
Re:Roland - serious request (Score:2)
And calling R.P. a leech who doesn't add to the stories is just crazy coming from a Slashdot poster. Roland Piquepaille goes out and finds his own stories, strings them together with copy he writes himself, and adds other content such as images.
Slashdot waits fo
Re:Roland - serious request (Score:1)
Re:Roland - serious request (Score:1)
Re:Roland - serious request (Score:1)
Re:Roland - serious request (Score:1)
New issue to fix just found - kudos to the cameras (Score:5, Informative)
Amazing how NASA turned into "Paranoid Scientists Incorporated" since Columbia...
Re:New issue to fix just found - kudos to the came (Score:1)
I mean NO! NO! They are careless imcompetant idiots.
Oh wait, I forgot; this is Slashdot where the posters slam everything, especially the things the things that they are the most ignorant about. That is what makes Slashdot the "special place"....
Re:New issue to fix just found - kudos to the came (Score:1)
I guess... (Score:1)
Really, you shouldn't need this technology as your own designs should be pretty stable and inspected before launch.
Re:I guess... (Score:1)
By that logic we could probably save Aviation billions by skipping all the pre flight checks on aircraft too.
I mean they consume time, manpower, resources not to mention we could nearly eliminate the stockpiles of spare parts too.
I mean hell, if the thing flew last time why should we need to check those pesky breakables again!
---
Next time Ill have a real sig, yea thats it thats the ticket!
Re:I guess... (Score:2)
You said:
By that logic we could probably save Aviation billions by skipping all the pre flight checks on aircraft too.
But he said: (emphasis mine)
your own designs should be pretty stable and inspected before launch.
So what part of his logic are you having trouble with then? It looks like you're both using the same logic and teh disagreement itself is not logical.
Re:I guess... (Score:1)
Slashdot: Land Of Hypocracy (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Slashdot: Land Of Hypocracy (Score:2)
Re:Slashdot: Land Of Hypocracy (Score:1)
The vitriolic critism dished out to him seems to be undeserved, or at least hypocritical - many other story submissions are self-serving, not just Roland's.
The objections seem to be that he is making money via ad impressions when Slashdot runs a story. How much can he really be making - $5, $10 extra
Re:Slashdot: Land Of Hypocracy (Score:1)
It's really about style points (which he is sadly lacking) and being grotesquely self-serving.
Re:Slashdot: Land Of Hypocracy (Score:3, Insightful)
Many slashdot readers detest the idea of their own comments being censored... but then whine about when slashdot excercises it's right to post what it bloody well wants on it's front page. They did the same thing with Jon Katz, their doing it with Roland, and when he's gone they'll find another target.
BTW- I think the filters are a fine idea too... The Right to not listen is just as important as the right to speak.
Re:Slashdot: Land Of Hypocracy (Score:1, Informative)
Plagarism - He lifts images and content from other websites. Only very recently did he start attributing the works he lifts. However even now, his citations are often incomplete.
Spamming - Yes, I do have a beef with making money the specific way he does. He takes news stories that other people write and then basically puts this pop-sci techno-babble spin on it to make appeal to neophytes like you. He then, with ads in place, spams his bullcrap
What I really wonder is (Score:3, Interesting)
Anybody in the know here could explain this?
Re:What I really wonder is (Score:1)
Re:What I really wonder is (Score:1)
Sigh...replying to a troll.
OK, if you're truely ignorant, yes, falling pieces of foam have always been a problem. However, the problem was exacerbated when envro-freak wackos used the EPA to force NASA to stop using freon to spray the foam. Basically, the new spray doesn't stick the foam as well.
Re:What I really wonder is (Score:1)
Re:What I really wonder is (Score:1)
The slightest tile chip damage is news because the media perception is that the thing is very fragile and NASA's hasn't bothered to dispel that perception (fer craps sake, a little cover fell off a window pre-launch and forced a standown while NASA checked for damage).
Also, I think a lot of people inside and outside NASA are very ambivalent about the shuttle. It's hideously expensive, both on a cost-per-kilogram launched and lives lost basis. I wouldn't be suprised if most NASA people have lost heart in the
Re:What I really wonder is (Score:2)
You seem a little mixed up on what's been going on. First, no flights are canceled. There will be likely delays until a few things are looked at and fixed, but nothing has been canceled. The media just likes to sensationalized things with words like "shuttle fleet grounded". There is no regular schedule for shuttles so the words "grounded" are meaningless here. No launch happens without a Flight Readiness Review
Re:What I really wonder is (Score:1)
Re:What I really wonder is - MOD PARENT UP (Score:2, Informative)
Re:What I really wonder is - MOD PARENT UP (Score:1)
Re:What I really wonder is - MOD PARENT UP (Score:2)
Re:What I really wonder is - MOD PARENT UP (Score:2)
Because, anything Hitler believed is automatically evil and wrong because he believed it. You wouldn't want to be associated with the beliefs of someone as evil as Hitler, would you? I hear he believed in gravity so I personally do not believe in it anymore. I mean, come on, an unseen force pulling things together. Get real.
Re:What I really wonder is - MOD PARENT UP (Score:2)
Everybody go read Fallen Angels by Larry Niven (et al). You can get it from the Baen Free Library, here [baen.com].
Why do I think you should all go read it? It's a very interesting alternate presentation of the environmentalist movement, and it was a strong enough presentation that I found my own position being pushed away from where I thought I was going.
Hrmph. Who wants to stop global warming? Those that want to start the overdue ice age!
Re:What I really wonder is - MOD PARENT UP (Score:1)
Boy, you're a good little sucker, aren't you?
Calling Hitler an environmentalist, or proponent of animal rights, is ridiculous. Hitler didn't give a shit about any living thing, and forsook meat (with many transgressions) only because he believed that it caused cancer. He was driven by self-preservation, not moral consideration for animals. I don't eat rats, but that doesn't make me a rat lover.
Environmentalists ab
Re:What I really wonder is (Score:2)
Re:What I really wonder is (Score:1)
Re:What I really wonder is (Score:1)
Re:What I really wonder is (Score:2)
Unfortunately, the numbering scheme NASA uses for the shuttle flights is a bit more complicated than that. The last shuttle launch was STS-107. That one just happened to be out of order somewhat, but if you look at the history of shuttle missions, you will see the numbering scheme is very odd. I believe the 10th shuttle flight was STS-41B or something similar. Challenger's last flight was STS-51L, even th
The shuttle number scheme explaine (Score:2)
It has a lot to do with the planned use of Vandenburg Air Force base to launch the shuttles and disruptions in the launch schedule.
X-15 -- do not extend landing gear above Mach 5 (Score:3, Informative)
They crumped an X-15 with a hard landing during a rocket-failed-to-light landing emergency -- this accident caused serious back injury to pilot Jack MacKay leading to long-term health problems. While the pilot was able to recover to return to flying the X-15, the powers that be decided to rebuild that X-15 with extra fuel tanks.
When they tested that X-15 in high-speed flight,
Re:What I really wonder is (Score:2)
The foam has always fallen. The problem is that some years ago the use of Freon was banned and Freon was an integral part of the foam application process for the External Tank. NASA was granted a waiver to continue using Freon, but they opted to ignore the waiver and go with a new method. The adopting of this new method (the specifics of which I am not knowledgeable of) coincided with a sharp increase in the size and frequency of the foam shedding from the ET. Despite this, NASA contin
Re:What I really wonder is (Score:1)
Re:What I really wonder is (Score:1)
Maybe it's not that dangerous... (Score:2)
Firstly, the heat shield is well known as one of NASA's less brilliant ideas; if you read James Michener's novel Space one of his characters shakes his head at the inelegance and horrible complexity of the design, I believe reflecting the views of many within NASA at the time about the whole concept.
As far as why they're finding these problems now: it's
And Neptec's RTOS of choice? (Score:4, Informative)
Full Article [sys-con.com]
Older QNX PR Piece [qnx.com]
Re:And Neptec's RTOS of choice? (Score:2)
Re:And Neptec's RTOS of choice? (Score:2)
Scariest thing I ever saw. When my wife was in the hospital for our third kid, before the kid was delivered, they had her hooked up to all the sensors. The computer controlling the sensor was sitting on a table next to the bed, of course.
And on the screen of that computer, every five minutes or so (until a nurse showed up to dismiss it) was a dialog that said "Illegal instruction at 0x0fffffff" or something to that effect. (I'm sure you all know the dialog I saw)
I was going to go into a Linux sales pit
Military Applications (Score:1)
I guess this would be similar to the Arena [wikipedia.org] that the Russians designed for their tanks, save that it'd use laser instead of millimeter-wavelength radar.
If you could really beef up the range on it (say if you could use it for scanning the skies) perhaps you could use it in lieu of radar on SAM batteries, thus nullifying the use of HAR
Total Agreement (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Total Agreement (Score:2)
How could it get much lower than the average Zonk story?
Re:Total Agreement (Score:1)
Zonk posts everything at least twice.
1 < 2
Math!
Need a new piggy to back. (Score:2)
Well, it's really a re-design flaw.
The original orbiter should have, and would have, been carried aloft via a secondary, jumbo-jet-sized, lifter vehicle.
The vietnam war, and little scuffles about bus-seating back in the 60's and 70's caused a great deal of capital to be reallocated. Hence NASA goes to the airforce, strikes a deal, and with a lower budget and military-grade load requirements the shuttle is mov
Roland Piquepaille? (Score:1)
Roland (Score:5, Funny)
Canada Canada Canada (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes it is Canadian lidar technology that was used to scan the shuttle for damage.
But, what you'll never hear from any American media outlet is that the laser camera was mounted on the Canadian extention arm
And of course the lets not forget about the other big tool that helps assemble the space station
Do you Americans build any of the space hardware you use?
Re:Canada Canada Canada (Score:1)
Re:Canada Canada Canada (Score:2)
Well said. But of course, your post will most likely get modded down now. See my sig.
Re:Canada Canada Canada (Score:2)
Did Canada willingly agree to the removal of their flag? You got some more info on this? I clearly remember the quite noticable, proud "Canadarm" logo-flaf on the arm on the first few flights. But now that you mention it... I haven't seen it in a while, always subconsciously thought that was a P.O.V. thing, not that it was actually removed...
Why such childish behaviour?
Re:Canada Canada Canada (Score:2)
Yea,yea, there's a preveiw buttan, I kow...
Re:Canada Canada Canada (Score:1)
The repair missions were huge publicity opportunities to gain US public support for NASA and to show the world how great the USA is.
Wouldn't want the average american dumbass to know that the star piece of hardware that made the repair possible was Canadian
Re:Canada Canada Canada (Score:1)
Re:Canada Canada Canada (Score:1)
While you 'did something'
Re:Canada Canada Canada (Score:3, Insightful)
Uh, besides the Space Shuttle?
Re:Canada Canada Canada (Score:1)
-early on lots of heat tiles used to just fall off during launch.
-several launches showed obvious evidence of dangerous O-ring problems in the SRB's
-then a shuttle blew up due entirely to pure american arrogance.
-2 years of delay
-years of not being able to keep up with the needed launch schedule, causing the scaling back of the ISS.
-chunk o foam makes shuttle go boom.
-2 years of delay, great expense reworking things
-first n
Re:Canada Canada Canada (Score:2)
Gladly! Sure it didn't turn out as good as originally expected, and it will be a welcome reversion to capsule systems like those we used well into the 1970's. It might have helped if NASA hadn't payed any attention to the environmentalists belly-aching about the use of asbestos in the external tank foam and switching to a weaker material. It would've been great if people without engineering background had not been allowed to make the decision to launch Challe
yea ok (Score:1)
It's hard to spot the wrongdoer here. (Score:1)
I'm not siding with anyone here; however, it surprises me that people would at
Re:It's hard to spot the wrongdoer here. (Score:1)
It's rather clear that
Simple... (Score:2)
They just went to APOD [nasa.gov]...
The triangular piece is obvious, what I believe is the other piece is being looked at edge-on so it's tricky to see. You can even see the damaged heat shield on the left.
Re:Who is Roland Piquepaille and why is he importa (Score:1)
Re:Who is Roland Piquepaille and why is he importa (Score:1, Funny)
All journalism and the news biz is the same (Score:1)
Journalists and news people usually feed off one another. Not only have I seen it happen in the media, I have been the recipient of news coverage triggered by other news coverage which was triggered by other news coverage.
It doesn't seem like a bit deal if the coverage is interested, no plagarism is committed, and credit is given.
Re:Here's Canada: Look at me! (Score:2)
It's just like that, the USA is the Big Dog and Canada is "Me too!"
Re:Here's Canada: Look at me! (Score:1)
Re:Shuttle (Score:1)
The reason why you got modded down, is because American pride precedes humor, so making fun of pride related issues is unamerican and will get you modded as Troll or Flamebait, because the majority of slashdotters are American.
In Europe, your joke would be a much larger success, Americans simply don't understand that kind of humor.
-H
Re:Shuttle (Score:1)
These astronauts are courageously putting their lives on the line for the advancement of science and for the greater good of society, and you're making a joke about them dying?
That's just wrong. Period. By the way, yes, I am an American, but I'd feel the same way if you were making a joke like this about Russian cosmonauts.
Re:Shuttle (Score:1)
Sorry for jumping on your case like that.
Over Hyped? (Score:1)
This is 3D laser thingy is nice and all, but these fabric pieces were clearly visible in a picture from a regular camera in the PUBLIC DOMAIN:
See for yourself. [nasa.gov]
It seems to me this laser thingy is meant to find much smaller flaws.
Self inspection (Score:2)