Posted on 07/31/2021 10:04:13 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Yesterday's unexpected tilting of the International Space Station was caused by a software glitch, according to Russian space agency Roscosmos.
A new Russian module dubbed Nauka arrived at the space station Thursday morning (July 29). In development for more than a decade, Nauka is designed to host science experiments, anchor visiting vehicles and serve as a gateway for spacewalks. However, while the module's arrival appeared to go smoothly, about three hours after docking, the module unexpectedly began firing its thrusters in an incident that caused the space station to tilt from its typical position for about 45 minutes in what engineers call a "loss of attitude control."
"Due to a short-term software failure, a direct command was mistakenly implemented to turn on the module's engines for withdrawal, which led to some modification of the orientation of the complex as a whole," Roscosmos officials wrote in a statement published on Friday (July 30).
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Is this the same Russia where their computer experts threw the election to Trump? Asking for a friend.
Ever heard of “stack overflow”?
Okay, I have waited a while for someone else to ask the queston:
*Why do the Russians need a escape mode for their added module to the ISS?"
“Stack overflow is a programming error in which an attempt to write data to a particular block of memory fails because there is no space left in the block. This type of error happens in the same way as buffer overflows, heap overflows, and stack buffer overflows. The difference between these types of errors depends on the computer data structure being used, and the common feature is that an attempt occurs to write more data than there is available space to hold it.”
The point is, stack overflow is a programming error, and error made by the programmer, and occurs because the software attempted to do exactly what it was told to do. The failure was a human failure, by the programmer.
>> That’s what she said!
a reliably good line.
motor makes a good point.
“software failure” is really a reflection of programming failure.
That is true.
Now another matter: Hardware errors do occur. Not as often as some programmers want to think, but is does occur. At particular risk are those devices made at a very small integration scale. Temperature extremes can be a source of error in program execution. There can be places in memory where the instructions are not read into the instruction decoder/sequencer as originally established by the program loader. Hardware failures expresses itself as software failures.
Oops, I forgot. Overclocking can cause failures that are mistakes in program execution even when the software is without error.
Dang, I also got off track. This sort of failure might not be a software failure at all. It could be a problem with an auxiliary power supply, a solenoid or relay driver, a malfunction at a valve, or even a fault in wiring or the associated connectors. Oh, a hardware failure.
Ever seen a short-term software failure? A direct command was mistakenly implemented?
I've seen this sort of thing many times. Someone is blaming the software for a problem rather than confessing the real problem. The software people are down the food chain from the actual culprits.
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