3 ms·

I think the empirical solution would not be as straight-forward as you proclaim. Namely, because lacking any clear understanding of the science any number of th

by ebrenes 15y ago

I think the empirical solution would not be as straight-forward as you proclaim. Namely, because lacking any clear understanding of the science any number of theories might crop up that attempt to explain the perceived anomaly thus hindering efforts at finding a workable solution. Some of the emergent theories might actually lead to declaring outright that the concept is flawed and unsolvable. On the other hand, having a clear conceptual framework allows these people to pin-point what areas might be causing problems. It allows for effort to be focused and justifies certain fixes. Especially in costly scenarios such as this one, where there might not have been a second launch given the failure of the first.

wlievens 15y ago
I'm not disagreeing that a conceptual framework is superior. But I picture it like this, in my very naive way. 1) launch satellites 2) after some time, engineers notice the clocks keep running behind/ahead (I always forget) 3) engineers debate, and have no clue what's happening 4) engineers build fix to re-synch the clocks every 24 hours or so 5) gps system works fine, engineers remain puzzled And then of course 6) after years of puzzlement, some kid figures out what's going on
- ebrenes 15y ago
  I can definitely see it playing out that way. However, my limited knowledge of the problem precludes me from understanding if a simple 24 hour re-sync would address the underlying problem. From what I do understand the accuracy/precision of the GPS system would be affected. I'm also inclined to believe that even with a regular re-synch, the overall usefulness of the system would be affected. As I don't believe the re-synch itself would be exempt from the underlying problem. What I do know is that given our better conceptual framework we're able to leverage very precise location information; this leads to a more useful and productive GPS system than we would have otherwise.

by ebrenes 15y ago

wlievens 15y ago

I'm not disagreeing that a conceptual framework is superior. But I picture it like this, in my very naive way. 1) launch satellites 2) after some time, engineers notice the clocks keep running behind/ahead (I always forget) 3) engineers debate, and have no clue what's happening 4) engineers build fix to re-synch the clocks every 24 hours or so 5) gps system works fine, engineers remain puzzled And then of course 6) after years of puzzlement, some kid figures out what's going on

ebrenes 15y ago
I can definitely see it playing out that way. However, my limited knowledge of the problem precludes me from understanding if a simple 24 hour re-sync would address the underlying problem. From what I do understand the accuracy/precision of the GPS system would be affected. I'm also inclined to believe that even with a regular re-synch, the overall usefulness of the system would be affected. As I don't believe the re-synch itself would be exempt from the underlying problem. What I do know is that given our better conceptual framework we're able to leverage very precise location information; this leads to a more useful and productive GPS system than we would have otherwise.