Royal Pain

[Robert Brockway]

On Mon, 14 Jun 2004, Henry Spencer wrote:

> On Mon, 14 Jun 2004, Robert Brockway wrote:
> > Probes on their way to Mars should not get full filesystems either.
>
> This happened on the Martian surface, actually, not en route.  And it was
> rather more subtle than a full filesystem.

Do you have a source for this?  I've just reviewed several articles on the
problem and it sure reads like a full flash based filesystem to me.

You're right about it occuring on the surface though.  What I was thinking
about was a remark by one of the scientists that part of the problem had
been files collected during flight.  I didn't realise the lander saw
those, but there you go.

> The issue with that, and some other past spacecraft problems, is that the
> environment is complex and it's a judgement call as to where testing

There is no doubt it is complex, but I keep considering how the engineers
of the 60s and 70s did so much more with so much less.  Pioneer 10 never
filed a filesystem :)

Part of the problem, IMHO, are the serious funding cuts NASA has suffered
since the 80s.  The problem is lost probes cost a lot for no return.
There have been quite a few in the last decade - and not just those
launched by the Americans.

Cheers,
	Rob

-- 
Robert Brockway B.Sc. email: robert-5LEc/6Zm6xCUd8a0hrldnti2O/JbrIOy at public.gmane.org, rbrockway-cFo9iiqjkw8eIZ0/mPfg9Q at public.gmane.org
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