Posted on 11/06/2006 2:44:20 PM PST by blam
Y2K-like fears create shuttle scheduling crunch
22:07 06 November 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Kelly Young
The shuttle Discovery is being prepared for a December launch in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Florida's Kennedy Space Center (Image: NASA)
NASA hopes to get its next space shuttle off the launch pad and back on the ground by the end of 2006 in order to avoid the spectre of problems once ascribed to 'Y2K'. It is now considering moving the shuttle Discovery's planned lift-off ahead by one day, to 6 December.
The space shuttle's computer software is about 30 years old and does not recognise when the calendar year switches. On 1 January 2007, for example, it will think it is day 366 of 2006 – a problem NASA calls 'year-end rollover'.
To reset the time, the shuttle's main computers would have to be 'reinitialised', which would mean a period without navigation updates or vehicle control, a situation NASA obviously wants to avoid.
NASA had already moved the shuttle's target launch date from 14 to 7 December – in part to avert the year-end issue and in part to allow shuttle workers to rest over the holidays. Now, it is considering moving lift-off one day earlier, to 6 December, to give launch teams another chance to get the shuttle off the ground before the new year.
"It looks like we will not try to execute the flight over the year end," says NASA shuttle programme manager Wayne Hale. He points out that avoiding the calendar change is simply a long-standing recommendation rather than a requirement – NASA may change the policy in the future.
Cutting it close
If the shuttle were to launch on the last day of its launch window, on 17 December...
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientistspace.com ...
Time to upgrade from the old '386' to a '486'.
Thse are brave men and women who fly these machines.
Oh for crying out loud!
LOL - yeah, time for an upgrade that's for sure
With all the time between launches it seems like they could change out the motherboard to upgrade from 8-bit to 16-bit.
I heard they even came out with a 'DX' chip now!
No more SX for me!
Whoo hoo!
i guess just changing the date and time are out of the question...
Were they up to 386 already??
To reset the time, the shuttle's main computers would have to be 'reinitialised', which would mean a period without navigation updates or vehicle control, a situation NASA obviously wants to avoid.
If rock stars and dot-commers pay $20Million for a ride, how brave do you have to be?
Interesting.
I would note that the IRS had no problem getting new computers and software in 1999. It's clear where their priorities lie.
Actually it was a VAX 11/780 system, circa 1978, I was there.
ping
It was a VAX 11/780 shadowed system with shared memory. This was a 32 bit system running VMS operating system.
Long past time to retire these old dawgs.
Our government at "work". First, they define the cutting edge, then let it ferment for 30 years. Let me guess: 8 bit instructions? Toroid core memory units? Mag tape transports? Toggle switches to allow the operator to place processor instructions directly on the data bus?
DEC 11/780... fond memories! What programming language?
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