Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Friday February 09 2018, @05:08PM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-not-dead,-yet dept.

NASA Confirms: Its Undead Satellite is Operational

Late last month, news broke that a satellite sleuth had spotted what appeared to be a lost NASA probe alive and sending out data. Now, NASA has officially confirmed the identity of the satellite as the IMAGE orbiter and is in the process of restoring the capability of processing the data that it is sending down. While we don't yet know whether any of its instruments are operational, one of its original team members is arguing that the hardware can still produce valuable science.

And NASA has determined that the craft's return to life is even more mysterious than we'd realized. When IMAGE originally lost contact, it was using its backup hardware after the primary set shut down. Upon its return, IMAGE is using its primary hardware again.

For those interested in all the details of the saga, NASA has put up a page where it's posting updates on its attempts to revive the satellite. In late January, the Goddard Flight Center was given time on NASA's Deep Space Network to have a listen to the craft. By the end of the month, the agency confirmed that this was indeed IMAGE and started trying to produce a software environment that could process the data it was sending.

"The types of hardware and operating systems used in the IMAGE Mission Operations Center no longer exist," NASA's Miles Hatfield wrote, "and other systems have been updated several versions beyond what they were at the time, requiring significant reverse-engineering."

Maybe NASA could make the raw feeds and existing specs available on the internet and let some of us have at it? Offer a bounty to the first folks who can demonstrate a program that can properly decode it?


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @05:28PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @05:28PM (#635591)

    I still have 486sx25 with 12MB of memory and 273MB hard drive running part of network. So old equipment is not the problem. Most of my equipment is 10 to 12 yrs old. Even have Suns, HP-UXs and IBM p w/ AXs, For the period.
    I have Diskettes, CD, and Back drive with Distros of all flavours going back 20yrs. Slack, Puppy, Rock, what do you need?
    I diskettes and old CD rom drives (down to 4 speed). to assemble tothe need.

    If I do not have it in "stock" at home, I could drig it up somewhere in a few days. And dig is an operational word. Leaved in area where the "environmental sound" recycler was caught digging holes at ends of backroads and bury the hardware, since it could not sell it.

    Lastly there is hardware in the Seattle Computer Museum.
     

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   +1  
       Insightful=1, Overrated=1, Underrated=1, Total=3
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   1  
  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @05:46PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @05:46PM (#635604)

    No one cares how much old shit you have in your house.

    You sound like a fucking hoarder.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Hartree on Friday February 09 2018, @10:18PM (1 child)

      by Hartree (195) on Friday February 09 2018, @10:18PM (#635747)

      "No one cares how much old shit you have in your house."

      No. You say don't care.
      But, you still seem to care enough to take the time to call them out on it. Is this sort of cognitive dissonance a pattern with you?

      "You sound like a fucking hoarder."

      I hope they are fucking. If the OP is having sex then they may be having kids (or had kids who may be having kids) so maybe there'll be more hoarders to save the "throw it out now!" crowd when old but critical systems go down.

      Having the old computers I've hung on to saves the University I work for lots of money since they don't have to trash the analytical instruments that are run by those old computers (and they're often quarter million dollar machines). So, I'm proud of being a hoarder of old tech. And you can shove one of my original (And, yes I still have them in the original box) IBM PCs... Well, I'll let you use your imagination. If that's not good enough, I know someone who still has 3 MITS Altairs that haven't been put together yet.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 10 2018, @07:20AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 10 2018, @07:20AM (#635918)

        Having the old computers I've hung on to saves the University I work for lots of money

        That was a significant portion of the thinking that went on in Munich when they were deciding to switch to Linux.

        Can't wait to see what the voters have to say about the millions they are going to spend in order to get hardware compatible with Redmond's latest.

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Friday February 09 2018, @08:17PM (2 children)

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Friday February 09 2018, @08:17PM (#635689) Homepage Journal

    Very smart! We're saving TREMENDOUS money by sticking with the old cyber. No Meltdown, no Spectre. I knew something like that would happen. Because they're making the digital too complicated, you have to be Einstein to figure it out. Why put in new cyber every 4 years when the old stuff does the job? You keep what works. And it's very environmental, I've gotten so many awards for environmental.

    We're saving big money on satellite too. I'm giving this one a new name, it's still IMAGE. I Make America Great, Extremely. What do you think? We're doing a great job!

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by JNCF on Friday February 09 2018, @08:39PM

      by JNCF (4317) on Friday February 09 2018, @08:39PM (#635701) Journal

      IMAGE Makes America Great Exponetially Ephemerally

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @08:57PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 09 2018, @08:57PM (#635712)

      XD