Posts by Bubba Von Braun

SpaceX Starship booster in flames after unexpected ignition

Re: N1...

Well the folks at SpaceX did figure out how to land a stage..

Re: I'm sure that didn't foul the environment much.

That was the remains to the white pipe likely an AC style vent.. kid of looked like shredded paper.

The Register recreates Apollo 15 through the medium of plastic bricks, 50 years on

Re: "Why can't they make the Starliner work now"

Boeing acquired North American as part of the Rockwell sell off in 1996. Boeing acquired NAA, RocketDyne and Rockwell's defense electronics businesses.

So Boeing became the service point for the Space Shuttle :-)

Boeing is a shadow of its former self thanks to the bean-counters who set out to line their pockets, while producing rubbish product. During the Apollo era I don't think propellant valves would get stuck after so few duty cycles.

A bunch of apps will be able to bypass Microsoft's new store and use own update methods

The future is already here

MSFS2020 seems to be using this model, My only interaction with the "Store" is for MSFS 2020 and a debacle that has become.. In game updates that wont apply.. After today's Sim Update I am done with it.. Either be a monopolist or get out of the devs way and let them accept responsibility for the install and updates just like the good old days :-)

Pipe down, Jeff. You've only gone where Gus Grissom went before, 60 years ago today

Re: Do allow Bezos his moment of glory

Healthy Competition.. I don't think so..

Blue Origin

16 Sub-Orbital flights total (New Shepard)

Single capsule, blunt body re-entry from mach4 speeds..

New Glenn unflown still to get off the drawing boards

1 Airframe and Motor

1 Deal with ULA to use their motor

SpaceX

126 Orbital flights on Falcon 9

10 flights on one booster!!!

Dragon cargo capsule

Crew Dragon crew capsule

Both capsules capable of orbital re-entry

Flown 6 humans to orbit

Falcon Heavy - Largest capacity booster in production.

Star-ship under development

Multiple Engines (Merlin, Raptor, Draco, Super Draco)

And Virgin Galactic.. cant even make the Karman line.

At best a novelty for the rich with money to burn.. Know where I would be putting my money

BvB

Seagate finds sets of two heads are cheaper than one in its new and very fast MACH.2 dual-actuator hard disks

Re: Is this new?

No not new at all.. had to think back to my NCR days, but Conner Peripherals "Chinook" drives. 3.5" SCSI more high throughput than capacity though.

It seems Seagate has resurrected/perfected the technology as they eventually bought Conner. Will be interesting to see what arrangement they have to interleave the data to get the additional capacity in the same surface area.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Conner_Peripherals_%22Chinook%22_dual-actuator_drive.jpg

China announces ‘crackdown’ on Bitcoin mining and trading

Re: 60,000 Nvidia RTX 30-series cards

Used only once.. Overclocked to breaking point for the period from Sept 2020 to May 2021. 90 minute warranty including unboxing

BvB

Philanthropist and ex-Microsoft manager Melinda Gates and her husband Bill split after 27 years of marriage

And Bob leaves with Mom

Well seems Melinda can finally get sole custody of Bob..Bill gets Clippy, Bill also has indicated he doesn't want visitation rights for Bob.

BvB

ps: Rumor has it there is a land fill in Hanford WA, that contains all the unsold copies of Bob. EPA spokesman predict they will remain radioactive for the next million years or so..

Michael Collins, once the world's 'loneliest man,' is dead. If that name means little or nothing to you, read this

An inspriation to all aspiring aerospace engineers

Indeed a life well lived. His contributions for my mind made him the standout. The Air Space Museum is a wonderful legacy, along with his quiet calm confidence. If you haven't read Carrying the Fire.. do it this weekend.

He may not have liked the tag of "Hero" but he would not disagree he was an inspiration to many to pursue their dreams.

I will be launching a rocket this weekend, and will make sure folks know its Carrying the Fire..

BvB

Computer security world in mourning over death of Dan Kaminsky, aged 42

Wow what a loss

Gone way way too soon, a true netizien, not doing things because of the dollars, but because its the right thing to do!

To have avoided the chaos that would have been wrought had the DNS issue became exploited this man certainly deserves addition to the Internet Hall of Fame on its own. Add to that his often selfless contributions, where does one sign the petition!!

Dan's insights will be missed and I pray more live up to his ethos, they have big shoes to fill.

BvB

It is 60 years since the first cosmonaut reached orbit and 40 years since the Shuttle first left the launchpad

Ah when we took risks to achive great things.

I look back and see how we are so risk averse it actually inhibits more than it protects.

Great things were achieved by those prepared to take the risk, can you imagine SLS/Orion doing its lunar flight after just one test flight of the booster to earth orbit? Not now we will wait years/decades at the current snails pace.

But I do wonder if this has become a case of perfect being the enemy of good enough.

BvB

What can the 1944 OSS manual teach us before we all return to sabotage the office?

Re: passengers?

Nah, Now they are called "Guests" that way when you have done something that disagrees you can be quickly moved from the guest to "Karen or Geoff / Nut Job / Trumplican" and ejected with prejudice :-)

Microsoft? More like: My software goes off... Azure AD, Outlook, Office.com, Teams, Authenticator, etc block unlucky folks from logging in

SAFU

And here folks is why mono-cultures are such a bad thing.. From the looks of it this is a global sanfu.

Some companies like my own are now stuck, unable to communicate, because the local powers that be banned alternatives such as slack to appease the M$ gods, and what do you know we are now stuck with sms's and personal contacts in our phones to communicate.

I guess one improvement going to be a relaxing day until this get fixed.

BvB

I can see my house from here! Microsoft Flight Simulator has laid strong foundations for the nerdy scene's next generation

AU Downloads

Seems that NBN there is some traffic management going on in the NBN network affecting FS2020

A full day of frustration, and thought that the issue was with the cloud flare servers hosting the content for download. Nope a simple switch to VPN with an AU outfall point, and its downloading as fast as my FTTP can take it.

Annoying as the ISP claims not to be shaping the connection to the US via the VPN is taking a longer path, (ABB is only 3 hops) yet without the VPN I am getting at most 1 Mbps. On VPN 89 Mbps! All my other access/downloads/rdp etc from the US today has been fine.

So lesson here is try a VPN to avoid the traffic management that may be present either in your ISP or the NBN network.

The second one will be just how well will it perform without the VPN running when flying. time and testing will tell.

BvB

Australian regulator slams Google ‘misinformation’ in pay-for-news-fight

Yeah.. NAH..

This from an organization that allows Copyright Trolls to claim Public Domain footage as their own, because they are too lazy to look at the detail and threaten you with exclusion if you have the temerity to raise the issue.

Its time tech businesses are treated the same as other business in all respects not just were it suits them.

Its time for some antitrust cases, too much power in any place corrupts, simply look at the orangutan in the Whitehouse.

And Simon yes you should get paid, its great to see you back providing an APAC flavor for the Vulture, I for one missed it.

BvB

Fresh astro-underwear, anyone? Orbital shenanigans as Progress freighter has last-minute ISS docking wobble

Re: Only 3 hours?

The ISS is on an orbital inclination of 53 degrees. This is required to allow the Russians to play as their launch sites are further north than those available to NASA and ESA. When this was decided, it led to the program to reduce the Space Shuttles weight as it needed improved performance to be able to lift the payload to the required inclination. You will have all seen the pitch/roll well that is the important part of getting it on the right course. A note of trivia.. the OMS motors on the shuttle could only adjust its inclination by 3 degrees if you burn all of its available fuel.

The rest is a matter of orbital dynamics. In Demo2 case they were doing allot of checkout ahead of docking. Those who watched the approach and docking would have also noticed the series of checks done to confirm abort behaviors for docking.

So can you do a rapid ascent, yes, as long as the ISS is in the right place and you launch at the right time. Now if you had a shiny new ride I for one would like to take my time getting to where I needed to.

For those who want to try the last 2000ft you can with the SpaceX docking simulator here https://iss-sim.spacex.com

BvB

After 84 years, Japan's Olympus shutters its camera biz, flogs it to private equity – smartphones are just too good

Re: Olympus were special

Same here.. Started shooting Auto-racing as a teen with my Trip35, and got some shots that the then pro's were impressed (while shit caning the camera ;-)) Fond memories, and then when I re-entered in the Digital era think its was '99 got my hand on a little E100-RS. Talk about a wicked little camera.. optics were awesome for the size and MP of 1.8 well it limited you, but had this pre-capture system that removed the whole issue of shuttle/photographer lag, push the shutter button and the previous 5 frames are in the card for you at 20 FPS. Continued my investment with an E1 and then an E3, along with a decent collection of lens (50-500mm and lots in between). However I saw the writing on the wall just before the shift to micro 4/3rds.. Then it became a choice between Cannon/Nikon, the latter has won out and the D850 is a cherished family member.

And why do some of us think Olympus is done as a camera brand. You only have to look at what PE did to Kodak, Polaroid etc.. slash/burn and then whore the brand around.

Olympus will always have a special place its where I started and the lessons learned have served me well.

BvB

Beardy Branson’s 747-assisted sat-launcher can’t get it up

Got it up but didnt "keep it up"

Sorry to see another debutante stumble on the first attempt. Maybe a little blue pill is all that's needed to help the beardy ones prodigies keep it up

BvB

What do you call megabucks Microsoft? No really, it's not a joke. El Reg needs you

Simple but effective..

M$

As we all know this is whats its all about how to screw the very last penny out of everyone.

BvB

It has been 20 years since cybercrims woke up to social engineering with an intriguing little email titled 'ILOVEYOU'

Re: 20 years?

And I see your CREEPER, with my REAPER..

The weakest link

I was with a major financial institution when this hit, with 40,000 emails users in 42 countries the spread was broad and rapid. There were some 26 variants in the first 24 hours.

Apart from the morons who responded to why they opened the attachment "I just had to know who loved me.." was a favorite. One of the later variants was I have billed your credit card for $$$ (cant recall the amount) for an airline ticket.

Scarier still was the inability of AV software to come up with a signature that would catch it. Those variants all shared common code.. yet S$ couldn't come up with a decent signature file for nearly a week.

Scroll forward 20 years and I was dealing with a different set of morons opening an attachment that allowed a hack of a major multi-national organization. Complete shutdown and sanitize of all the servers and systems and a month of 24x7 care.

Some people never learn..

BvB

Internet root keymasters must think they're cursed: First, a dodgy safe. Now, coronavirus upends IANA ceremony

Re: coke-bottle eyeglasses

Its the Twilight Zone eight episode.. "Time Enough at Last" Mr introvert was Burgess Meredith.

BvB

RIP Katherine Johnson: The extraordinary NASA mathematician astronauts trusted over computers

An amazing lady

An inspiration to everyone. Never truer a term is used that we stand on the shoulders of those who come before. In Mrs. Johnson's and those who served NACA and then NASA they have laid a foundation in mathematics and computing still in use today.

It is a sad day. I think my next rocket will be named after her.

BvB

Starliner snafu could've been worse: Software errors plague Boeing's Calamity Capsule

Re: This is why the Shuttle never had a software problem that killed people

Sorry but both Shuttle accidents were avoidable. They are both rooted in the same sort of management malaise affecting Boeing.

Engineers presented that there was an issue and it was dismissed on the basis of schedule and/or cost pressures.

A great read is "Truth, Lies and O-Rings" by Alan McDonald one of the Thiokol folks who blew the whistle on he Challenger mismanagement.

BvB

Apple calls BS on FBI, AG: We're totally not dragging our feet in murder probe iPhone decryption. PS: No backdoors

A wise man once told me..

"There is no point in telling someone they are stupid as they are too dumb to realize what your telling them.."

In this case govt of all flavors prefer their own version of the truth while they sadly try to man-handle/brow beat and con the public that thy are dong it for their own good.

BvB

Breaker, breaker. Apple's iOS 12.4 update breaks jailbreak break, un-breaks the break. 10-4

Re: Standard

Now we all know that the Apple's PR Department is a mini Black Hole located in Cupertino CA, where it gobbles up Reg inquires, and as we all know nothing can escape a Black Hole, not even a response.

And that is why Apple has a doughnut HQ, Black Hole lives in the center. Come to think of it so does GCHQ.. whats that noise.. oh not the black helicopters again..<static>

You can easily secure America's e-voting systems tomorrow. Use paper – Bruce Schneier

Paper works. Having been an election official here in AU, I have been part of the process.

To the point raised slipping in extra ballots wont work. The polling place has say 3000 ballots issued to it. We need to account for them this is done throughout the day. At close of voting the ballot boxes are opened in by voting officials, and counted in-front of scrutineers from the various candidates.

Once tallied the results are phoned through and all the ballots and materials are packaged and sealed, delivered to the returning office for that district. These ballots are counted again at least twice in the following weeks to verify the counts.

Its this accounting that picked up 1300 missing senate ballot papers in WA. And to ensure integrity of the vote, a fresh senate election was held for that state.

The key difference between Australia and the USA, is we have a totally independent organization for managing boundaries, enrollments, the count. So no gerrymandering, its all based on population and voting is mandatory. If an official shows the slights bent/bias they would be removed very quickly.

All done with pencil and paper

LightSail 2 successfully unfurls its silvery solar sails, prepares to become a truly solar-powered satellite

Re: Arthur C Clarke

I am sorry Fido you cant do that.. Fido stop take a doggie treat and lets talk about it.. Fido dont cock a leg.. Fido Stop.. Fido what is that warm feeling running through my memory.. Fido Stop I am loosing my mind.

Houston, we've had a legend: Boffin behind NASA Mission Control signs off for final time

Re: And if you watched "Armstrong"

It was Aldrin's desperate aspiration.. fact was vehicle design was already complete by the point they were assigned.

With the door opening to the right, it was always going to be Armstrong first.

Messr Kraft and Kranz are the reason I do what I do today in amateur rocketry. I always thought mission control was the cool place to be.

I recall a quote (cant recall where) but when asked about the EVA what was the most important thing Armstrong and Aldrin do. His response was to "Get off there and come home"

A great loss, but spaceflight stands on his shoulders, for his leadership in mission planning, management and flight control.

Oh little trivia.. Kraft never saw a manned launch in person ever!

We don't know whether 737 Max MCAS update is coming or Boeing: Anti-stall safety fix delayed

Re: Question for the experts

The engines on the 737 MAX series were moved slightly forward and up to maintain the necessary ground clearance. (ever wondered why the engines have flatted bottoms on the nacelle)

The issue as you point out is the increase in air flowing below the wing especially in take-off/climb can cause a pitch-up moment leading to a stall.

MCAS was developed to counter this issue, however if the reports are correct and there is only one AOA sensor feeding the MCAS system, then its design is fatally flawed. There are two AOA sensors on the 737 MAX and integrating them should resolve any AOA sensor failure. Why they didnt probably cost/schedule pressures.

Also seems Boing's design philosophy has been to let pilot inputs over-rule the flight computer. Seems that has changed with MCAS or its truly a bug in resetting the override count. Whats worse is that this wasn't called out.

BvB

Dozens of .gov HTTPS certs expire, webpages offline, FBI on ice, IT security slows... Yup, it's day 20 of Trump's govt shutdown

Re: Comparison

You miss a key point..

While the president can run on a series of "promises" so do the elected officials from that other branch of government... The Congress (House of Reps/Senate)

After enduring crown rule, the founding fathers wanted to make certain that no one arm was all powerful ruling over the people. Of the three arms of Government, (Congress, Executive Branch and the Judiciary) The executive branch is probably the weakest.

In this case POTUS still needs to obtain the support from the Congress, and vice/versa for policies spending etc. One could argue that POTUS is the weaker here, as the Congress can override a Veto by the President with a super-majority.

A presidential election is not a blank check..

Here endth the civics lesson..

BvB

Sensor failure led to Soyuz launch failure, says Roscosmos

Re: spacecraft design

Yes, its one the the arguments NASA is using the slow down crewed Dragon, can the fault detection system work fast enough. There was some doubt it would on Apollo, though it never got tested fortunately.

This is the second time for the Soyuz, certainly worked well a pretty wild ride.

BvB

First A380 flown in anger to be broken up for parts

Also like early 787, these early production A380's are a little over weight, with fixes and patches to correct issues post production. The wing cracks comes to mind as one of these early fixes.

Long haul congested hub to hub were always its best value argument, market just moved against them. No hub congestion when you avoid it altogether.

Bloodhound Super-Sonic Car aims to wake up Newquay: Rocket work restart in August

Re: mono-propellant...

Nope your right you may wear your pedant badge with pride..

HTP provides one of two parts of the system. This is a hybrid.. using HTP for the oxidizer and synthetic rubber for a fuel in a classic hybrid design. Describing this as a "mono-propellant" is not correct.

To quote for @amis reference.. "When used with a suitable catalyst, HTP can be used as a mono-propellant, or with a separate fuel as a bi-propellant." in this case the team are referencing its using a rubber fuel element.. and hence is not a mono-propellant but a bi-propellant hybrid.

With good reason, the thrust generated in the HTP steam engine will be substantially less that that generated in a hybrid.

Bubba Von Braun

Exclusive to all press: Atari launches world's best ever games console

ET and Space Invaders.. in 4K.. that's going to be a real winner.kiddies.. Or is that 4K per pixel :-)

What do they say about a fool and their money.. in this case its a nostalgic fool and their money are parted even faster.

FTTP NBN gone from draft Australian Labor Party policy platform

" will update this story if we receive a meaningful reply. "

So that is a never then. While I am one of the lucky few with FTTP, its sad to see the opportunity of a truly connected country go down the partisan toilet.

When will these clowns of all political persuasions start governing and stop acting like a bunch of kids in a school yard.

If you guessed China’s heavy lifter failed due to a liquid hydrogen turbo engine fault, well done!

Translation...

The fuel turbo pump lost a blade (“local structure anomaly”) that then dropped the fuel flow into the engine (“momentary decline”) causing an oxygen rich engine environment followed by rapid disassembly of the vehicle (“the loss of launch mission")

There was no recovery from the decline as the engine was now a firework.. And who said you needed black powder to do fireworks...

Reg writer wins quite prestigious journalism prism

Well done indeed

Mark, well done and I am sure you can look forward to more glassware in the future.. great articles.

Half the world warned 'Chinese space station will fall on you'

Re: Finders Keepers

No you cant sell it, it still is owned by the Chinese govt. However, under international treaties (and we know how much China loves treaties). The country that launches an object into space, and the country it is launched from are responsible for any damages caused so you can sue China for any damage it causes.

So that fine chunking pumpkin or award winning roses that gets smashed to bits you can try and collect.

Look on the bright side, Pebble fans. At least your gizmo will work long enough for you to get beach body ready

Anything But FitBit

You can put me into the Anything But Fitbit (ABF) camp.

They seriously want me to consider a lesser product, with a trivial discount, what comes next they cancel that product too. Like some other companies they are not getting that folks are expecting to retain some tech such as Tablets and wearables like watches folks hang on to especially when they just work.

If Fitbit had half a brain, (and looking at the financials they don't) why not breath life into the pebble products you acquired, or is this a case of not invented here? Though given those financials, I suspect they will go the way others, but not seen as purveyors of good solutions but sharks acquiring and dismembering great idea's

While I don't look forward to my Pebble's looming Alzheimer's, I will reflect that it has served me well and give it a suitable cremation under a big rocket motor.

IBM’s complete Meltdown fix won’t land until mid-February

Re: Patents

They will need to as the Power architecture chips are in use in military and space hardware. Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, Dawn are all running rad hardened Power architecture chips.

But I guess most hackers don't have a 200ft dish laying around their back yard to upload code to it :-)

Lots of 805/x and 80386/486 up there but Power has become a weapon of choice for big probes it seems. There is also the 1750a used allot of flight control systems 16bit RISC from a 1980's time.

Mystery surrounds fate of secret satellite slung by SpaceX

Stealth mode

Given the high level of stealth on this flight. Hmm how to score this one.. I think a new column is required LTS = Lost in Space. or maybe it never happened, yes sir that was just Elon's late New Years firework..

BvB

RIP John Young: NASA's longest-serving 'naut explores final frontier

I wouldnt be surprised

I am sure Elon will slip a corned beef on rye sandwich into the roadster, after-all the Dragon had its block of cheese.

John Young was one of the best, God speed and thank you for your brave endeavors you inspired many.

Bubba Von Braun

Elon Musk lowers his mighty erection for test firing: Falcon Heavy preps for maiden voyage

Roadster will not RTLS

Even if it achieves an solar obit, the intervening years, I am sure will give the roadsters paint job a good blasting of solar radiation, along with a few CME's over the intervening years the electronics will be fried as hmm Lithium batteries in a +250f/-250f lets hope it gets a good barbecue roll running before too long.

Now are the cars lithium batteries vacuum certified?? hmmm

BvB

Stick to the script, kiddies: Some dos and don'ts for the workplace

Great Advice

Good common sense advice, after all its code of a form, and should be subject to reasonable change controls.

The same goes for SysAdmins who Google/Technet/Spiceworks etc solutions. I always have my admins verify a solution before they try and implement it. How many times have we had a user or a Help Desk guy grab a solution from a Google search try it and make a situation a whole lot worse.

Key thing is peer review/support. Its a whole lot easier to get a colleague to cross-check what your planning to do, rather than tie up the entire department cleaning up the mess created by that "quick fix" you found.

How can airlines stop hackers pwning planes over the air? And don't say 'regular patches'

Re: Here's a thought

Ah but the convenience, to allow an engineer diagnose faults in all of the aircraft no pesky cables just walk up connect and go.

Better yet lets manage it in the cloud.. download the flight computer databases, no longer do I have to send an engineer around to download it from a 3.5" floppy disk (Airbus A320 style :-)) nah push them out to the entire fleet with the push of a button.

Sadly there are few (read: NO) Pilots in Airline management these days, all bean counters looking to squeeze the extra buck out of everything. They are wedded to the security through obscurity mantra and we all know how flawed that approach is. Its cheap and they can get their obscene bonuses at the end of the year.

As always common sense becomes road kill in the rush to profits/convenience.

The bigger the drone, the bigger the impact

Re: WTF?

Tin of Kola Bears more precisely phascolarctos gravitarius otherwise known as a Drop Bear.

Be careful when you open the can

BvB