Posted on 05/19/2008 1:26:38 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Some interesting statements about the Viking data.
http://www.space.com/news/spacehistory/viking_life_010728-1.html
What does ice look like that’s never melted?
How does ice form that’s never melted?
Armonk, NY - 03 Aug 2007: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that Power Architecture will make a return to outer space as NASA plans to launch the Phoenix Mars Lander, its most sophisticated probe to date. The lander will head to the polar north of Mars where it will dig into the frozen surface in search of the building blocks of life. This probe will be outfitted with a radiation-hardened RAD6000 computer by BAE Systems and based on Power Architecture. As the “brains” of the space craft, the RAD6000 will process navigational data and drive key systems both in space and on the planet surface.
The program cost for the Phoenix launch is $420 million dollars and launch opportunities come only once every 26 months. Once on the surface, Phoenix will endure temperatures down to -100 degrees Fahrenheit and wind speeds of up to 40 meters per second. It is critical that all systems run smoothly throughout the mission. The RAD6000s proven ability to withstand the rigors of space and open architecture programmable from workstations to supercomputers, make it an ideal platform for the 423 million mile journey.
“We are honored that NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has selected Power Architecture and the BAE Systems RAD6000 to be an integral part of a mission that may answer the age old question; could life exist on another planet,” said Raj Desai, vice president IBM Global Engineering Solutions, “With Power-based processors in all three major game consoles, in fifty percent of automobile models worldwide, in sixty percent of the worlds fastest computers, and in one hundred percent of the systems on Mars, Power is truly the most versatile computing platform in the solar system.”
Power Architecture and the red planet
In 2003 NASA launched the Spirit and Opportunity Mars Exploration Rovers toward Mars to see if water, a key building block of life as we understand it, was ever present on the planet. The mission, originally planned for 90 days continues to this day transmitting an unprecedented amount of data and stunning photos back to earth.
The key instruments on both rovers relied on a single board computer built with a 32-bit Power Architecture licensed to BAE Systems by IBM and a RAD6000 processor radiation hardened by BAE systems.
“We selected Power Architecture as the most amenable architecture for space-based missions,” said Vic Scuderi, space product manager for BAE Systems. “Experience bears out that choice, as the space community has accepted the RAD6000 as the workhorse for space computer applications.”
Surviving windstorms with speeds of up to 80 miles per hour and temperatures of -199 degrees Fahrenheit, Power, once radiation hardened, has become the de facto standard for space qualified processors.
It’s nice to see spacecraft making landings the way God and Robert Anson Heinlein intended - tail first in a cloud of flame from the reaction drive.
bump
And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
Now if we could only have four little mini humanoid robots with helicopter packs on their backs emerge . . .
A flying milk stool....just be ready for an alien cow kick!
Thirds is this one of your “birds”???
I took analytical chemistry from this fellow (cannot remember his name aarrrgh!) at USC in 1979. He was a great guy. He tried hard not to talk about the Viking program.
Yes, Dog, as a matter of fact, it is. They built it in the late 90s when I was working on rockets. Another of my fellow engineers analyzed the fuel tanks. Then NASA canceled it and they sealed it in a box at about 95% complete. A few years ago, they decided to go ahead with it and put the arm on it. In the meantime, my co-worker and I swapped projects and he is now on launch vehicles and I’m on spacecraft. So, I had to babysit the fuel tank structural analysis since the tanks were already installed. There were a few snags with the pesky safety people. Not that we don’t care about safety, but, the tanks were to operate at a slightly higher pressure than originally designed for and we had to jump thru hoops to get safety to approve the tanks so workers could work near the pressurized tanks on the launch pad. Of course, once the launch took place safety no longer was an issue since Phoenix would never be near humans again. There were a few mods made to the support decks and I got to analyze a couple of new brackets supporting new valves for structural strength. There are a phenomenal number of things that can go wrong. The complexity of the landing sequence is mind boggling. I will be turning blue holding my breath Sunday afternoon.
Thanks!
I hope the EPA approved that rig and it has a carbon credit stamp. Al Gore might be upset, otherwise.
(That would make a nice postage stamp , btw)
Won’t the burners needed to land it destroy or alter the hell out of anything worth studying underneath it?
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