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What programming languages / operating systems do these systems use? Is there any chance they could be open sourced? Why is the hardware on them so weak? Why

by anon3_ 11y ago

What programming languages / operating systems do these systems use? Is there any chance they could be open sourced? Why is the hardware on them so weak? Why is the bandwidth so low? Why can't we just spend a billion dollars for more bandwidth, CPU power and hard drive space? Why don't we just build an army of orbiters and send them into space?

dm2 11y ago
https://github.com/nasa https://github.com/nasa and http://ti.arc.nasa.gov/opensource/ http://ti.arc.nasa.gov/opensource/ and https://code.nasa.gov/ https://code.nasa.gov/ Hardware has to be radiation hardened and redundant. Bandwidth is so low because it has to send radio waves 500 million miles, and that's not an exaggerated number. https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html Edit: The Deep Space Network is currently down, might be aliens, good luck everybody.
- anon3_ 11y ago
  We have billions of dollars. USA already is experts at making complex, reliable and complicated hardware with complex manufacturing processes. Why can't we just craft that hardware we need in bulk? We have billions of dollars in funding. Make a factory production out of it. Why don't we send 300 mars rovers? We can make 5000 tanks. We can build 5000 fighter jets. Why do we just build one rover? My impression with astronomy is it has nowhere near the fervor or seriousness that defense has. Why are we not dumping supply ships in the moon in anticipation of colonization?
  - xdissent 11y ago
    See responses to similar question here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9740777 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9740777
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - dm2 11y ago
    I wrote a very detailed reply for this with lots of sources, but deleted it because it would only invite more questions that you can find out the answers to yourself. Really what you are asking requires several books worth of information to fully explain. Basically just read everything on Wikipedia about DARPA, NASA, CIA satellites, the NRO, the Apollo missions, Sputnik, Voyager 1 / 2, the Curiosity rovers, KH-9, KH-11, Hubble, etc. then come back and criticize NASA if you still think that they are not doing their job properly. You have the answers to all of these questions and more at your fingertips via Google. NASA has another Curiosity rover, but the cost/benefit of sending it to Mars isn't worth it in their expert opinions.
igrekel 11y ago
I don't know for recent missions but from a short stint at working with a space agency I remember there were a number of factors. One of them was how long it is from the moment the systems are designed to the moment they are launched. Another was how reliable and well known the hardware had to be, brand new hardware was not a good candidate. Other issues were with radiation resistance, smaller circuits are more sensible, the amount of redundancy that had to be built in and the little amount of power that was really available. In the case of a mission such as this one, I believe transmission is an issue given how far the spaceship is.

by anon3_ 11y ago

dm2 11y ago

https://github.com/nasa https://github.com/nasa and http://ti.arc.nasa.gov/opensource/ http://ti.arc.nasa.gov/opensource/ and https://code.nasa.gov/ https://code.nasa.gov/ Hardware has to be radiation hardened and redundant. Bandwidth is so low because it has to send radio waves 500 million miles, and that's not an exaggerated number. https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html Edit: The Deep Space Network is currently down, might be aliens, good luck everybody.

anon3_ 11y ago
We have billions of dollars. USA already is experts at making complex, reliable and complicated hardware with complex manufacturing processes. Why can't we just craft that hardware we need in bulk? We have billions of dollars in funding. Make a factory production out of it. Why don't we send 300 mars rovers? We can make 5000 tanks. We can build 5000 fighter jets. Why do we just build one rover? My impression with astronomy is it has nowhere near the fervor or seriousness that defense has. Why are we not dumping supply ships in the moon in anticipation of colonization?
- xdissent 11y ago
  See responses to similar question here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9740777 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9740777
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- dm2 11y ago
  I wrote a very detailed reply for this with lots of sources, but deleted it because it would only invite more questions that you can find out the answers to yourself. Really what you are asking requires several books worth of information to fully explain. Basically just read everything on Wikipedia about DARPA, NASA, CIA satellites, the NRO, the Apollo missions, Sputnik, Voyager 1 / 2, the Curiosity rovers, KH-9, KH-11, Hubble, etc. then come back and criticize NASA if you still think that they are not doing their job properly. You have the answers to all of these questions and more at your fingertips via Google. NASA has another Curiosity rover, but the cost/benefit of sending it to Mars isn't worth it in their expert opinions.

igrekel 11y ago

I don't know for recent missions but from a short stint at working with a space agency I remember there were a number of factors. One of them was how long it is from the moment the systems are designed to the moment they are launched. Another was how reliable and well known the hardware had to be, brand new hardware was not a good candidate. Other issues were with radiation resistance, smaller circuits are more sensible, the amount of redundancy that had to be built in and the little amount of power that was really available. In the case of a mission such as this one, I believe transmission is an issue given how far the spaceship is.