Space Station computers still causing problems

It looks like those Space Station computer problems are still causing headaches for NASA and Russia's Mission Control, as they're reportedly still not fully back up to speed after two days of repair work. According to the AP, the Russians worked on them through the night but only managed to get one of three power channels restored before the flight controllers told them to get some sleep. Despite the setback, NASA's still saying that the chances of abandoning the space station are remote, and that the crew are not in any immediate danger. In the meantime, the shuttle Atlantis's crew have apparently turned off cameras, laptops, and some lights to conserve power in case they need to stay an extra day to maintain the ISS's position.

[Photo courtesy of NASA]

[AC @ Jun 15th 2007 2:08PM]

Best of luck to them.

[FordGTGuy @ Jun 15th 2007 2:16PM]

Seeing as how russian software is based off Tetris I could see why it messed everything up.(I joke lol)

I hope they get it all worked out Good Luck guys!

[mike @ Jun 15th 2007 2:23PM]

That's what happens when you depend on Chinese made products. (joking)

What's the deadline to get it fixed or to abandon the station?

[Arbee26 @ Jun 16th 2007 5:06AM]

Actually I doubt there is any Chinese components on the ISS because the US has refused to allow them to have any part in the ISS even thought the 'I' in ISS stands for international. I guess it should be renamed USSS.

Its a pity because the Chinese are one of the few countries with lots of money to throw around and a fairly advanced space industry.

[mike @ Jun 16th 2007 5:11AM]

@ Arbee26 -

Actually I was kidding, but since you brought it up. You really think there is not 1 circuit on the entire station that isn't chinese made, or has chinese made parts in it? The Chinese make most products for less than half of their American counterparts, and with shipping to the US it's still cheaper.

I bet if someone followed the manufacturing trail of each item on the station, they'd find alot of stuff that originated in China.

[Ryan @ Jun 15th 2007 2:40PM]

i'd be interested to findout what the specs are of the computers they're running up there. if i didnt fear the anti-fanboy backlash, i'd reccomend making the switch to mac. lol

[anonymous @ Jun 15th 2007 2:48PM]

{smack!}

fanboy!

[Matt E. @ Jun 15th 2007 3:00PM]

Seriously. What OS are these computers running?

[murray @ Jun 15th 2007 3:10PM]

I hear them talking about the "U drive" a lot when the ISS is sending photos down to Houston. That implies it could be Windows (at least for that part of the network), because I know *nix doesn't generally use drive "letters" and I don't think Macs do either(?).

[murray @ Jun 15th 2007 3:19PM]

I doubt any critical systems would be run under a consumer OS. They would likely be using an industrial real-time OS, maybe their own.

[Anders G @ Jun 17th 2007 9:46AM]

The computers are running specially developed systems. You dont run consumer OS:es on these kind of machines. I suppose it could be some kind of highly customised *nix version, definately not any Windows or Mac-dialect thats for sure.
Also, you usually have a completely independent backup-system if the primary one fail. For example, the space station have 5 main computers that check each other all the time. If one fail, (i.e. fail completely, or starts to respond erroneously) the other computers can vote the one that does not work out of the computing array.
Also, if enough computers fail (I suppose if you go down to just 2?) the shuttle will failover to a completely independent backup-system.

[Anders G @ Jun 17th 2007 9:48AM]

I meant the space shuttle. The space shuttle have the independend systems I spoke about. I dont know how the ones at the ISS work.

[Kirk @ Jun 15th 2007 3:22PM]

That's what you get for Linsux!

[Leslie Donaldson @ Jun 15th 2007 3:25PM]

http://suzymchale.com/kosmonavtka/isscomp.html

The Service Module, Zvezda, has a common onboard control complex (БКУ, BKU). This European-Russian designed system, linked by integrated control algorithms, is a network that co-ordinates all the Russian segment’s systems to perform the Station’s tasks. The БКУ’s components are:

* The onboard computer system (БВС, BVC)
* Onboard hardware control system (СУБА, SUBA)
* Motion control and navigation system (СУДН, SUDN).

The БКУ also interacts with the onboard data telemetry system and radio technical facilities.

The European Space Agency and Energiya jointly developed the Russian segment’s БКУ (or Data Management System, DMS, as ESA calls it). This is described on a page at the ESA website:

[Crayola @ Jun 15th 2007 3:31PM]

Why don't they just flick the circuit breaker back on? Dump the digital technology, they should just bring back analog computing....

[murray @ Jun 15th 2007 3:52PM]

Old "analog" computers were even less reliable.

[nik @ Jun 15th 2007 3:56PM]

hippie

[Tommy @ Jun 15th 2007 4:00PM]

That's what you get for using winBLOWS! HAHAHAHAHAAA

[Leon @ Jun 15th 2007 4:52PM]

Morbid though it may sound:

This gives the phrase "Blue Screen of Death" a whole new meaning.

[djhyro @ Jun 15th 2007 5:03PM]

thats what happens when you run on Windows Me

[Brandon @ Jun 15th 2007 5:38PM]

Yeesh Engadget, that picture of the space station is really, really out of date! They've got most all of the S1, S2, S3/S4 and port side equivalent trusses in place since that was taken!

[threepointone @ Jun 16th 2007 10:58PM]

I'm almost certain NASA makes their own OS for this. Depending on what the space station computers do, it might not even be an OS, just plain software running directly on the CPU (i.e. no need to multitask).

And aerospace stuff is usually pretty high quality stuff, about at the same level as military grade components (sorry to break the news to you, but in the world of engineering, "consumer" grade components are pretty much the cheapest and least reliable things made). I'm quite certain most of the parts wouldn't be made in China (although I wouldn't be too certain about future projects, considering what's happening to NASA's budget)

And you're kidding me with analog computing--you couldn't possibly supply enough power for that kind of nonsense through those solar panels.

Good luck, anyway.

[Craig @ Jun 15th 2007 6:26PM]

My understanding is that if everybody has to leave the ISS, there's no going back, because it will probably start tumbling once the shuttle un-docks, and then I guess it's just a matter of time before it de-orbits. I hope I'm wrong about that, because it will be a HUGE bummer when we realize that maybe we as humans are not smart enough to have a space station after all.

[Singe @ Jun 16th 2007 2:51AM]

Quick Comrade!...Call Geek-Squad!