Grasshopper jumps sideways

On 20/08/2013 10:41 PM, Jeff Findley wrote:
In article ,
says...

It's an interesting topic to think about. In today's world,
it's a challenge to write the software.

I think this is debatable. One thing that modern electronics gives you
is speed and processing power. This isn't like the Apollo or shuttle
days where you had to minimize every bit of data you stored and had to
count every cycle you needed to execute your code. Remember the 1201
and 1202 errors on Apollo 11? How about the shuttle code which wasn't
quite right related to some aerodynamics issues on reentry?


As I understood the issue with the shuttle, it was the aerodynamics that
were unexpected, rather than anything wrong with the code.

Sylvia.

In article ,
ess says...

On 20/08/2013 10:41 PM, Jeff Findley wrote:
In article ,
says...

It's an interesting topic to think about. In today's world,
it's a challenge to write the software.

I think this is debatable. One thing that modern electronics gives you
is speed and processing power. This isn't like the Apollo or shuttle
days where you had to minimize every bit of data you stored and had to
count every cycle you needed to execute your code. Remember the 1201
and 1202 errors on Apollo 11? How about the shuttle code which wasn't
quite right related to some aerodynamics issues on reentry?

As I understood the issue with the shuttle, it was the aerodynamics that
were unexpected, rather than anything wrong with the code.

While this is true, the space and processing power issues surely
influenced the design of the code. As such, the design likely was more
rigid and inflexible than it likely would be today. Adaptive control
systems are more common today than in the 1970's.

Heck, even my "ancient" 1991 Ford Crown Victoria has some adaptive
capabilities, as do most modern cars. The computer controlling the
car's engine "learns" and "adapts" based on feedback from the many
sensors that cars have today. They can adapt to short term variations
in air pressure, temperature, fuel formulation (i.e. octane), and etc.
Long term, they can also accommodate for some of the "wear and tear" in
the engine components.

If you Google "Adaptive Flight Control Research", you'll find that this
has been quite an active area of research over the last few decades.

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer