About This Particular Macintosh 6.04 - eDisk

Columns: Deep Space MacAbout ThisOpinionApple CiderRandom Squeezings from a Mac UserBY TOM IOVINOtiovino@atpm.comDeep Space MacHave you ever stopped to think about space exploration?Although some of us may think the money we spend studying the cosmos could be betterspent helping the poor or working towards a cure for cancer, the scientific advances made bythe space program have helped us a great deal here on Earth. Perhaps you have heard abouta little life-saving process called magnetic resonance imaging? Portable telephones, even?Yes, even the venerable TANG breakfast drink got a boost from space exploration.All of these items, and thousands more like them, have been created, improved, or modifiedto survive the extreme conditions involved in loading them on top of a rocket and shootingthem into the most extreme conditions known to man. Progression of technology has generallygone in one direction—from NASA, to the public. Recently, however, there has been achange in the direction of this flow.In late 1999, as NASA was preparing to launch the Space Shuttle on a mission to repair theHubble Telescope, serious concerns were raised. Launch attempt after launch attempt wasscrubbed due to various mechanical failures. Failures due, perhaps, to the mileage the shuttlefleet has been put through over the years. One oil change every six thousand miles won’tcut it anymore, guys!Other than the deteriorating state of the shuttle fleet, there was concern about the aging softwarethat controls the shuttle’s systems. Long ago, when the space shuttle was still on thedrawing board, the software that controls the millions of functions that have to happen on atypical shuttle mission was written. Sure, when Jimmy Carter was in the White House, thissoftware was state-of-the-art, but the times have changed.ATPM 6.04 ← 15 →Columns: Deep Space Mac