It was using Clinton-era flight computers. This is a common problem in aerospace. New avionics can’t necessarily be trusted for mission-critical tasks. The Shuttle computers were basically IBM-360s, all the way into the 90s.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
Launch Delayed By Virus
OK, can someone explain why the Space Command (I refuse to call it a force) is delaying a GPS launch on a Falcon 9 until the end of June, but NASA still plans to go ahead with the Commercial Crew test flight in May?
Takeout/Delivery
I’ve never worried about the food itself; my concern is the packaging. As it says, take the food out of it, dispose, and wash your hands. It’s also good that the drive-through cashiers are holding out the machine for you to insert your card in, rather than taking it from you and handing it back.
My Favorite New Twitter Account
A New Netflix Series
This may be entertaining, but the notion that the purpose of the Space Force is to go back to the moon is a false premise. But of course, now everyone will think that it is, because they saw it on a teevee show.
Masten
Congratulations on the award. Let’s hope they can do it, and on schedule. We’re going to see a lot of lunar activity in the coming years, regardless of Artemis.
Well, That Was Probably Exciting
Seems to me like the passenger was lucky to survive.
Why Obama Would Have Botched This
I’m surprised there are only six reasons.
[Update a couple minutes later]
They didn’t even include this one.
Testing Efficiency
This is the way to do it.
As the thread points out, you could just do one test per household, on the assumption that if one is infected, all are or will be. Hope the CDC/White House are aware of this thinking, because it makes a hell of a lot of sense to accelerate our knowledge of the scope.
[Early-afternoon update]
Turns out there’s a rapid-test device already available in hospitals.
The Biased Media
The Manchurian media wants you to forget their own terrible coverage.