New Space Mission to Jupiter

[Gwagon111]

TheHeretic said:

My God! It's full of PM optical filters!

PM optical fibers, I don't do filters. .

[TheHeretic]

Gwagon111 said:

PM optical fibers, I don't do filters. .

Bah, bloody spellchecker thingy.

[Vipers]

Eric Mc said:

I have always been seriously impressed by space and rocket technology. Indeed, I am still impressed by Apollo, and some of that technology is well over half a century old now.

Clever chappies those Germans.

[Simpo Two]

It is impressive how Apollo got to the Moon with such a basic computer. Today we think that if something has 40 billion microprocessors it must be good. Does having a gazillion times the computing power really make a rocket any better? Seems to me it just makes things more likely to fail.

[Vipers]

Simpo Two said:

It is impressive how Apollo got to the Moon with such a basic computer. Today we think that if something has 40 billion microprocessors it must be good. Does having a gazillion times the computing power really make a rocket any better? Seems to me it just makes things more likely to fail.

Indeed, does all the razzle dazzle computing technology in cars make them any better either? Some maybe, Ethel's run around, may not.

[Simpo Two]

Vipers said:

Indeed, does all the razzle dazzle computing technology in cars make them any better either? Some maybe, Ethel's run around, may not.

I think a good part of that is to try to keep economy up and emissions down. With a rocket it's probably not so important

[jmorgan]

Vipers said:

Simpo Two said:

It is impressive how Apollo got to the Moon with such a basic computer. Today we think that if something has 40 billion microprocessors it must be good. Does having a gazillion times the computing power really make a rocket any better? Seems to me it just makes things more likely to fail.

Indeed, does all the razzle dazzle computing technology in cars make them any better either? Some maybe, Ethel's run around, may not.

But the big boys were on erf doing the big sums.

[Vipers]

jmorgan said:

Vipers said:

Simpo Two said:

It is impressive how Apollo got to the Moon with such a basic computer. Today we think that if something has 40 billion microprocessors it must be good. Does having a gazillion times the computing power really make a rocket any better? Seems to me it just makes things more likely to fail.

Indeed, does all the razzle dazzle computing technology in cars make them any better either? Some maybe, Ethel's run around, may not.

But the big boys were on erf doing the big sums.

True.......

[Hooli]

Vipers said:

jmorgan said:

Vipers said:

Simpo Two said:

It is impressive how Apollo got to the Moon with such a basic computer. Today we think that if something has 40 billion microprocessors it must be good. Does having a gazillion times the computing power really make a rocket any better? Seems to me it just makes things more likely to fail.

Indeed, does all the razzle dazzle computing technology in cars make them any better either? Some maybe, Ethel's run around, may not.

But the big boys were on erf doing the big sums.

True.......

Weren't the 'supercomputers' they used on earth about as powerful as 286 PC?

[Simpo Two]

Vipers said:

True.......

Yes, visions of Apollo 13 and Houston saying something akin to 'Pull the lever when we say "NOW"'

I guess the main issues with leaving your computing power on Earth are the time delay as you get further away, and that if your radio packs up, you're a bit buggered.

[jmorgan]

Hooli said:

Weren't the 'supercomputers' they used on earth about as powerful as 286 PC?

Don't know.


Why for?

[jmorgan]

Simpo Two said:

Yes, visions of Apollo 13 and Houston saying something akin to 'Pull the lever when we say "NOW"'

I guess the main issues with leaving your computing power on Earth are the time delay as you get further away, and that if your radio packs up, you're a bit buggered.

They had planned for all that. Just in case.... They have the big ones on Earth doing the main number crunching, they feed instructions to the CM for adjustments. The on board is used for that and a few other things. There are contingencies built around that, they would have tested them to death many times in the simulators.

As I understand it.