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The interesting part of this is that NASA did a study. I used to work for NASA as a contractor. I never met anyone with automotive engineering experience. Not t

The interesting part of this is that NASA did a study. I used to work for NASA as a contractor. I never met anyone with automotive engineering experience. Not that there weren't any, but wouldn't it make more sense to hire an automotive engineering consulting company to do a study? Come to think of it, I wonder who NASA hired to do the study. I bet dollars to donuts it wasn't government (NASA) employees. But people (and therefore politicians) see NASA and think smart. It just shows you how political this whole mess was.

Retric 16y ago
I think some of the people working on all those rovers keep up with automotive technology. Also, when it comes to the specific systems involved they know more about sensors, robotics, and real time systems than just about any organization on the planet. PS: NASA engineers were contracted to conduct research into whether electronic systems or electromagnetic interference played a role in incidents of unintended acceleration. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHTSA-NASA_Study_of_Unintended_Acceleration_in_Toyota_Vehicles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHTSA-NASA_Study_of_Unintended_...
- damoncali 16y ago
  Well, those rovers don't have engines. But the interference makes a lot of sense. Radiation/interference is a major issue for space electronics. Interesting side note: The Hubble Space Telescope used a basically stock (totally stock?) intel 486 in its computer - mainly, I'm told, because they came out of the box with remarkable radiation resistance. I was a mechanical guy, however, so don't quote me on that.
krschultz 16y ago
NASA does have a large continent of forensic engineers which is actually more relevent to the discussion than automotive engineers. Though so does the NTSB, so honestly I'd rather see a study done by the NTSB. An automotive engineer will know how automotive companies usually design braking and acceleration systems. They can tell you if Toyota did something out of the ordinary compared to the industry standard. Assuming they didn't, the automotive engineer is no more qualified to go deeper than that than any other mechanical engineer. So bringing in a forensic engineer who knows how to deconstruct accidents is probably far more relevent than bringing in an automotive engineer who knows how to create a braking system by stiching together vendor components.
sili 16y ago
NHTSA has been convinced all along that there are no real issues with the cars and the commissioned study was really just for show. NASA is the best agency to tap for this (read superstars of science and engineering). Average Joe on the radio is not going to go "they got NASA for this? Why?", he's going to say "NASA! Wow, they really mean business now"

Retric 16y ago

I think some of the people working on all those rovers keep up with automotive technology. Also, when it comes to the specific systems involved they know more about sensors, robotics, and real time systems than just about any organization on the planet. PS: NASA engineers were contracted to conduct research into whether electronic systems or electromagnetic interference played a role in incidents of unintended acceleration. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHTSA-NASA_Study_of_Unintended_Acceleration_in_Toyota_Vehicles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHTSA-NASA_Study_of_Unintended_...

damoncali 16y ago
Well, those rovers don't have engines. But the interference makes a lot of sense. Radiation/interference is a major issue for space electronics. Interesting side note: The Hubble Space Telescope used a basically stock (totally stock?) intel 486 in its computer - mainly, I'm told, because they came out of the box with remarkable radiation resistance. I was a mechanical guy, however, so don't quote me on that.

krschultz 16y ago

NASA does have a large continent of forensic engineers which is actually more relevent to the discussion than automotive engineers. Though so does the NTSB, so honestly I'd rather see a study done by the NTSB. An automotive engineer will know how automotive companies usually design braking and acceleration systems. They can tell you if Toyota did something out of the ordinary compared to the industry standard. Assuming they didn't, the automotive engineer is no more qualified to go deeper than that than any other mechanical engineer. So bringing in a forensic engineer who knows how to deconstruct accidents is probably far more relevent than bringing in an automotive engineer who knows how to create a braking system by stiching together vendor components.

sili 16y ago

NHTSA has been convinced all along that there are no real issues with the cars and the commissioned study was really just for show. NASA is the best agency to tap for this (read superstars of science and engineering). Average Joe on the radio is not going to go "they got NASA for this? Why?", he's going to say "NASA! Wow, they really mean business now"