The Space Business Has Its Problems Too
 

Communications satellite fails:

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11986013^401,00.html

http://www.spacetoday.net/Summary/2750


Prof spends 18 years on experiment that goes to Saturn, somebody
forgets to turn it on:

http://apnews.myway.com//article/200...D87O3NAO0.html
"Nobody's Perfect!"

73 de Jim, N2EY

wrote:
Communications satellite fails:

Probably some "radio professional" had his hands "inside the box"
and dropped his dust pan...I mean multimeter...

Prof spends 18 years on experiment that goes to Saturn, somebody
forgets to turn it on:

Even Novices and No-Code Techs know to turn the radio on!
73

Steve, K4YZ

Prof spends 18 years on experiment that goes to Saturn, somebody
forgets to turn it on:


Not the first time someone screwed up. Seems that weeks after
Voyager 2 was launched it was expecting messages from JPL.
Hearing nothing, it figured that its primary command
receiver was broken, and switched to a backup receiver.
Well, the problem was that the expected message was never
sent. There was a risk that if they allow Voyager to switch
back to the primary receiver the switch circuit might break
and then become completely deaf. Later the backup receiver's
automatic frequency control circuit fails (a filter loop cap
shorted to ground it seems).

But space probes are designed to still be able to work and
get at least some data back if some screwups happen.

In article .com,
writes:

Communications satellite fails:

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11986013^401,00.html

http://www.spacetoday.net/Summary/2750


Prof spends 18 years on experiment that goes to Saturn, somebody
forgets to turn it on:

Oh, my, Professor Goddard, WHAT would you have the Euro space
folks DO?

Lend them a hand with your vast spacecraft experience! [even the
half-vast will do because you have so much of it]

Tsk. Did the Nun of the Above fail to read the latest IEEE
Spectrum? The one featuring the Gravity Probe B instrumentation
and successful on-going flight? They have the world's most
precision gyroscopes on board.

No? Aren't you a working professional in electronics engineering?
The SPECTRUM is the membership magazine of the IEEE, the
Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers. I read it free as
I am a Life Member of the IEEE (Life Members of IEEE don't have
to pay any dues or any one-time charges).

Well, then, you must not have seen the well-publicized pictures
of the Huygens. They were in the major newspapers.

http://apnews.myway.com//article/200...D87O3NAO0.html
"Nobody's Perfect!"

So, you "write off" yet-another spectacular space probe because
one part of it did not function correctly? Tsk. What do you have
to say of the TWO Mars Rovers still exploring the Martian surface?
I'd say that NASA is doing splendidly in the so-far-longest-delay
telecommand "radio control" of those two rovers. You don't say
squat.

Are you ****ed that NASA doesn't use "CW" for radio comms?
Is that it?

Maybe you should instruct them to use a microphone in series
with a transmitter lead line, like your idle, Reggie Fessenden.
Gosh, what a clever method. Was that AM method adopted by
anyone else for voice transmission? No? How could they fail to
do so? Everyone else must be stupid, right? You tellum.



Posted 22 Jan 05

Len Anderson wrote:

Maybe you should instruct them to use a microphone in series
with a transmitter lead line, like your idle, Reggie Fessenden.
Gosh, what a clever method. Was that AM method adopted by
anyone else for voice transmission? No? How could they fail to
do so? Everyone else must be stupid, right? You tellum.

It's MY assertion that that was one of those satellites you
alleged to "have (your) hands in"...Was too lazy to find a trash can
for that dust pan you were carrying so you dumped it in the first place
you could brush it in to...

Lennie, how many of those NASA folks are beating down your door to
get you out of retirement to help them fix thier problems????
Steve, K4YZ

In article .com,
K4YZ wrote:

| wrote:
| Communications satellite fails:
|
| Probably some "radio professional" had his hands "inside the box"
| and dropped his dust pan...I mean multimeter...
|
| Prof spends 18 years on experiment that goes to Saturn, somebody
| forgets to turn it on:
|
| Even Novices and No-Code Techs know to turn the radio on!

Yes, but the radio isn't usually millions of miles away by the time
they notice it's not on ...

In any event, this sort of thing happens closer to Earth too. Many
R/C gliders have been lost because somebody put them n the winch
(basically a motorized bungee) and launched the plane without ever
turning on the receiver in the plane. What happens next generally
depends on how well the plane was trimmed and how stable it is --
ranging from flying off never to be seen again to making a lawn dart
out of itself ...

And I'll bet some ham has put a transponder or repeater or something
onto a balloon and launched it, forgetting to turn the stuff on first :)

--
Doug McLaren,
`Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it's hard to get it back in.'
-- H.R. Haldeman