Unexplained software "anomaly" during Cassini's closest approach toEnceladus.

EE Times: Latest News
Software 'hiccup' undermines trip past Saturn moon
Reuters
EE Times
(03/14/2008 9:28 AM EDT)
"NASA called the problem "an unexplained software hiccup" that came at
a very bad time, preventing Cassini's Cosmic Dust Analyzer instrument
from collecting data for about two hours as it flew over the surface
of the moon Enceladus Wednesday.
"A key objective of the fly-by was to determine the density, size,
composition and speed of particles erupting into space from the moon's
south pole in a dramatic plume.
"Bob Mitchell, Cassini program manager, said the problem meant that
the instrument did not collect data as the craft flew through the
plume -- a process lasting under a minute.
"When it went through the plume, it was not working properly,"
Mitchell said in a telephone interview, expressing disappointment. "We
had tested that software very carefully. We don't know why it didn't
work properly."
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/s...leID=206903718

Reminds me of what happened on Galileo's closest approach to Europa...

Newsgroups: alt.sci.physics.new-theories, alt.sci.planetary,
rec.arts.sf.science, sci.astro, sci.geo.geology
From: "Robert Clark" rcl
Date: 1998/11/24
Subject: Galileo Update - November 23, 1998
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.a...afe8d08b13e50c


Bob Clark

Robert Clark wrote:
[snip]

Reminds me of what happened on Galileo's closest approach to Europa...
[snip]
Bob Clark

Hey Bob, wanna see some Dark Matter?

http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/sunshine.jpg

More to the point, consider a position paper that made it up to the
NASA Administrator's desk,

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/214672main_K...GenY_rev11.pdf

Compare and contrast with the 02 February 1987 "Aviation Week & Space
Technology" editorial strongly suggesting "NASA should not be allowed
to operate in a vacuum." I **** thee not.

NASA triumphs: Space Scuttle (9X [more expensive]/[gram boosted] in
constant dollars than the use once and toss Saturn V). Columbia
hypocomputer (second building with Itanium-2s) to ISS FUBAR ([pigs in
space). The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer imbrolgio (no room at the
FUBAR),

http://ams.cern.ch/AMS/Description/overview.html

The cherry atop the whip cream is Return to the Moon! A working
answer obtained ahead of schedule, under budget, and done with slide
rules multiply flew in the 1960s. 21st century NASA can't get it up
with CAD, superhypercomputers, unlimited budget, and 12 years of lead
time.

TOP SECRET/Lotus Eater rumors indicate an engineering diversity hire
hit Apollo 1.5X in floating point and NASA has been struggling with
1.49999 ever since. All screws, nuts, and bolts must be
custom-manufactured. All wire gages must be custom-pulled. Then a
grievous misspelling of Avoirdupois had all forces calculated in Troy
oz.

NASA's only hope is "Mythbusters" episode 64. It's looking pretty
good if NASA can scale it up by an integer factor and obtain 12-foot
diameter 150-foot long Mil-Spec solid fuel cores,

http://aem.asm.org/cgi/reprint/42/5/863.pdf

Oh for the days of the Nazi-American Space Alliance.

--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/lajos.htm#a2

On Mar 14, 4:42 pm, Robert Clark wrote:
EE Times: Latest News
Software 'hiccup' undermines trip past Saturn moon
Reuters
EE Times
(03/14/2008 9:28 AM EDT)
"NASA called the problem "an unexplained software hiccup" that came at
a very bad time, preventing Cassini's Cosmic Dust Analyzer instrument
from collecting data for about two hours as it flew over the surface
of the moon Enceladus Wednesday.
"A key objective of the fly-by was to determine the density, size,
composition and speed of particles erupting into space from the moon's
south pole in a dramatic plume.
"Bob Mitchell, Cassini program manager, said the problem meant that
the instrument did not collect data as the craft flew through the
plume -- a process lasting under a minute.
"When it went through the plume, it was not working properly,"
Mitchell said in a telephone interview, expressing disappointment. "We
had tested that software very carefully. We don't know why it didn't
work properly."http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206903718

Reminds me of what happened on Galileo's closest approach to Europa...

Newsgroups: alt.sci.physics.new-theories, alt.sci.planetary,
rec.arts.sf.science, sci.astro, sci.geo.geology
From: "Robert Clark" rcl
Date: 1998/11/24
Subject: Galileo Update - November 23, 1998http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.science/msg/78afe8d08b13e50c

Bob Clark

Also what happened (twice) to the
Phobos fly-bys.
John

On Mar 14, 8:10 pm, Uncle Al wrote:
Robert Clark wrote:

[snip]



Reminds me of what happened on Galileo's closest approach to Europa...
[snip]
Bob Clark

Hey Bob, wanna see some Dark Matter?

http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/sunshine.jpg

...
Uncle Alhttp://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/lajos.htm#a2


That settles it. Al disagrees with it, so it's gotta be true!

(Gulp.)

On Mar 14, 6:42 pm, Robert Clark wrote:
EE Times: Latest News
Software 'hiccup' undermines trip past Saturn moon
Reuters
EE Times
(03/14/2008 9:28 AM EDT)
"NASA called the problem "an unexplained software hiccup" that came at
a very bad time, preventing Cassini's Cosmic Dust Analyzer instrument
from collecting data for about two hours as it flew over the surface
of the moon Enceladus Wednesday.
"A key objective of the fly-by was to determine the density, size,
composition and speed of particles erupting into space from the moon's
south pole in a dramatic plume.
"Bob Mitchell, Cassini program manager, said the problem meant that
the instrument did not collect data as the craft flew through the
plume -- a process lasting under a minute.
"When it went through the plume, it was not working properly,"
Mitchell said in a telephone interview, expressing disappointment. "We
had tested that software very carefully. We don't know why it didn't
work properly."http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206903718



Just saw this on the Bautforum.com space board:

Enceladus-flyby-Mar2008
Culling Through It All!
Mar 15, 2008 03:11:38 PM
Linda Spilker, Cassini Deputy Project Scientist
"It's been a whirlwind here at JPL as the data from the Enceladus
flyby comes pouring in, and we scientists have been doing our
thing . . . culling through it all! Sometimes there's so much to
choose from that I feel like a kid in a candy story. There is much
excited email chatter among the many Cassini teams, all suggesting
awesome findings. These first-looks are being matured by the team
members, and we have begun to share and compare results.
You may have already seen the press release from JPL explaining that
the
Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) had an unfortunate software hiccup at
closest approach to Enceladus and their data was not recorded. The CDA
instrument measures the composition of small particles that hit the
instrument, which is an important thing to do at Enceladus to
understand its geyser-like jets. But like all small bumps on the road
to discovery, we will find out what happened, fix it and get on with
our business about the Saturn system. And what an amazing system it
is.
On the very bright side, all of the other fields and particles
instruments and remote sensing instruments, worked perfectly at
Enceladus. They are returning fantastic data and providing an
incredible look around and inside the plume, and of the surface. The
fields and particles instruments are complementary to CDA and provide
information on particle composition and characteristics, among other
things.
As soon as possible in the week or two ahead, we will be able to
announce the preliminary results to the world. Until then, I'm
waiting like the rest of you are for these data sets to be analyzed,
since the first-looks are looking so great! Stay tuned for some Earth-
shaking -- I mean moon-shaking -- results!
--Linda"
http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/Encela...608134918.html

On Mar 16, 10:20 am, Robert Clark wrote:
Just saw this on the Bautforum.com space board:

Enceladus-flyby-Mar2008
Culling Through It All!
Mar 15, 2008 03:11:38 PM
Linda Spilker, Cassini Deputy Project Scientist
"It's been a whirlwind here at JPL as the data from the Enceladus
flyby comes pouring in, and we scientists have been doing our
thing . . . culling through it all! Sometimes there's so much to
choose from that I feel like a kid in a candy story. There is much
excited email chatter among the many Cassini teams, all suggesting
awesome findings. These first-looks are being matured by the team
members, and we have begun to share and compare results.
You may have already seen the press release from JPL explaining that
the
Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) had an unfortunate software hiccup at
closest approach to Enceladus and their data was not recorded. The CDA
instrument measures the composition of small particles that hit the
instrument, which is an important thing to do at Enceladus to
understand its geyser-like jets. But like all small bumps on the road
to discovery, we will find out what happened, fix it and get on with
our business about the Saturn system. And what an amazing system it
is.
On the very bright side, all of the other fields and particles
instruments and remote sensing instruments, worked perfectly at
Enceladus. They are returning fantastic data and providing an
incredible look around and inside the plume, and of the surface. The
fields and particles instruments are complementary to CDA and provide
information on particle composition and characteristics, among other
things.
As soon as possible in the week or two ahead, we will be able to
announce the preliminary results to the world. Until then, I'm
waiting like the rest of you are for these data sets to be analyzed,
since the first-looks are looking so great! Stay tuned for some Earth-
shaking -- I mean moon-shaking -- results!
--Linda"http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/Enceladus%20Flyby/posts/post_1205608134...


NASA To Release New Details From Close Flyby of Saturn Moon.
"NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, March 26,
to present new clues on the composition of the icy plumes jetting off
the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The findings were obtained
March 12 during the closest flyby of the moon by the Cassini
spacecraft."
http://newsblaze.com/story/200803201...p-Stories.html


Bob Clark

Maybe they hired the Huygen's probe guys again :-)
A software mistake meant that half of the attennas
were accidently turn off and a little less than half the
data was lost. They were able to deal well with what
they got back anyways.

(Really, these instruments come from different countries
and probably had different programming.)

On Mar 21, 11:52 am, "rick++" wrote:
Maybe they hired the Huygen's probe guys again :-)
A software mistake meant that half of the attennas
were accidently turn off and a little less than half the
data was lost. They were able to deal well with what
they got back anyways.

(Really, these instruments come from different countries
and probably had different programming.)

And Titan may have a subsurface ocean as well.
Hmmm.....

Bob Clark

On Mar 21, 9:41 am, Robert Clark wrote:
...

NASA To Release New Details From Close Flyby of Saturn Moon.
"NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, March 26,
to present new clues on the composition of the icy plumes jetting off
the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The findings were obtained
March 12 during the closest flyby of the moon by the Cassini
spacecraft."http://newsblaze.com/story/20080320165927tsop.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/T...



Cassini Finds Enceladus Tastes Like a Comet - Planetary News | The
Planetary Society
By Emily Lakdawalla
March 26, 2008
http://planetary.org/news/2008/0326_...es_Like_a.html


Bob Clark

"john" wrote in message
...
On Mar 14, 4:42 pm, Robert Clark wrote:
EE Times: Latest News
Software 'hiccup' undermines trip past Saturn moon
Reuters
EE Times
(03/14/2008 9:28 AM EDT)
"NASA called the problem "an unexplained software hiccup" that came at
a very bad time, preventing Cassini's Cosmic Dust Analyzer instrument
from collecting data for about two hours as it flew over the surface
of the moon Enceladus Wednesday.
"A key objective of the fly-by was to determine the density, size,
composition and speed of particles erupting into space from the moon's
south pole in a dramatic plume.
"Bob Mitchell, Cassini program manager, said the problem meant that
the instrument did not collect data as the craft flew through the
plume -- a process lasting under a minute.
"When it went through the plume, it was not working properly,"
Mitchell said in a telephone interview, expressing disappointment. "We
had tested that software very carefully. We don't know why it didn't
work
properly."http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206903718

Reminds me of what happened on Galileo's closest approach to Europa...

Newsgroups: alt.sci.physics.new-theories, alt.sci.planetary,
rec.arts.sf.science, sci.astro, sci.geo.geology
From: "Robert Clark" rcl
Date: 1998/11/24
Subject: Galileo Update - November 23,
1998http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.science/msg/78afe8d08b13e50c

Bob Clark

Also what happened (twice) to the
Phobos fly-bys.
John

Revenge of the LGM!!!!!!!!!!

--
Tom Potter

http://www.geocities.com/tdp1001/index.html
http://notsocrazyideas.blogspot.com
http://groups.msn.com/PotterPhotos


--
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