Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
The International Space Station’s first major computer malfunction
seems to have been fixed just in time before Atlantis is due to leave
for Earth, with one final test to go, as records are broken and
Atlantis was repaired.
The Russian computers aboard the ISS, actually built by Daimler-Benz in Germany, overshadowed the Space Shuttle’s torn thermal blanket when the computers spectacularly crashed, bringing into great focus the remote possibility that the ISS might have to be abandoned.
Thankfully, such a dramatic scenario did not unfold, with the ISS computers set to undergo one final test before Atlantis heads back to Earth with Suni Williams in tow, the US astronaut who has broken the endurance record for the most amount of time spent in space by a female astronaut.
Things were looking grim when the computers did not reboot and start working as expected, with Atlantis needing to use thrusters only once during the computer shutdown to help the station maintain the correct position as it orbits the Earth.
But since then, despite holdups, the computers have started working again, with only an oxygen generator yet to be turned on again, with the test due at 10.28am EDT, Monday 18th of June, US time. Should the test fail, the Space Shuttle Atlantis will postpone its departure for at least one more day as attempts will be made to fix the computers again, although if the test succeeds, Atlantis and the STS-117 crew will depart the station at 10.42am EDT on Tuesday 19th of June.
Although a Russian Progress spaceship will bring a backup set of computers to the ISS on its next visit, the glitch had thrown light on just how precarious life is in space, and how easy it is for things to go wrong that could necessitate the evacuation of the entire station.
The entire episode strongly highlights the need for multiple points of redundancy in space craft and space stations to avoid such a scenario happening again. It’s astounding to think there was no backup computer totally separate to the first computer that could kick into action if needed.
It also highlights the progress we still need to make if humanity is to truly become a space faring race.
Still, both the ISS and the many private efforts from EADS, Space Adventures and Virgin Galactic in bring space travel to the rich, and eventually the masses show that despite a hiccup in truly advancing space exploration since the moon landing, the space race has recaptured the imagination of the public, world governments and the private sector as humanity seeks to explore and conquer the final frontier that is space.
David Bass
| ComOps, a leading Australian provider of business software products and services, has won a competitive tender to deploy its Salvus safety, r…
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