NASA's control room flooded with Macs during Mars Curiosity landing

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  • Reply 81 of 138
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member


    deleted - duplicate

  • Reply 82 of 138
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Ochyming View Post


     


    Now that is awesome!


    How can USA be the most powerful country on earth still?



    Apparently the quote was made up and intended as humor. It just wasn't that humorous.

  • Reply 83 of 138
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    gatorguy wrote: »
    Apparently the quote was made up and intended as humor. It just wasn't that humorous.

    I found it very humorous.
  • Reply 84 of 138
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    I found it very humorous.


    That's because you thought it was a real quote. ;)

  • Reply 85 of 138
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    gatorguy wrote: »
    That's because you thought it was a real quote. ;)

    On the contrary. Since ti was posted as a reply to my Chick-fil-A comment and didn't have a link the most likely reasoning was that it was fake, regardless of how authentic it appeared to some at first glance. Most humour comes down to the formulation of the words. This was well done.
  • Reply 86 of 138

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post





    While I agree that NASA serves a useful purpose and that we spend far too much money on the military, the rest is fairly histrionic. NASA's budget is $19 B this year. That's real money.




    It's real money, but it's not like it's flushed into space. It's paid out to scientists, engineers, and administrator in the form of salaries. NASA seems bad because that number seems really high but when you compare it to the rest of the government it's a tiny drop in the bucket

  • Reply 87 of 138
    ssquirrelssquirrel Posts: 1,196member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post





    While I agree that NASA serves a useful purpose and that we spend far too much money on the military, the rest is fairly histrionic. NASA's budget is $19 B this year. That's real money.


     


     


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_United_States_federal_budget#Total_outlays_by_agency


    NASA requested 18.2B for 2012 and received 17.7B.  The DOD got 683B, which was more than 8 times the next biggest government agency.  This is on a total budget expenditure of $3.796T.  So the DOD is 18% of the federal budget and NASA is 0.47%.  BTW, yes 17.7B is real money, but it's absolute peanuts when looking at our total expenses.  For those wondering, yes, the DOD has a budget more than 38x bigger than NASA's.


     


    Cut that defense budget in half and give NASA an extra 100B for the rest of the decade and let's see what they could do on a real budget.


     


     


     


    Federal 1963 budget: $111,316,000,000


    NASA 1963 budget: $4,291,279

    After inflation: $32,607,752.40


    1963 NASA budget was .00386% of our expenses that year. (cue some rant about modern NASA being more wasteful w/o taking into account cost increases beyond inflation)


     


     


     


    Historic budget info and calculator:

    http://federal-budget.findthedata.org/l/65/1963


    http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-4214/app2.html

    http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm/

  • Reply 88 of 138
    ochymingochyming Posts: 474member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by johnnyb0731 View Post




    It's real money, but it's not like it's flushed into space. It's paid out to scientists, engineers, and administrator in the form of salaries. NASA seems bad because that number seems really high but when you compare it to the rest of the government it's a tiny drop in the bucket



     


     


    Is there any agency in the world MOST important than NASA ( if you compare its contribution to science and the everyday life ) ?


    Complaining about the money NASA receives and making a blind eye to the USA huge military in a world where military force NO longer makes any serious punch is almost a crime.


     


    People forget that most discoveries are accidental, and without an agency like NASA where would you find reasons for swimming into the unknown?

  • Reply 89 of 138
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    emacs72 wrote: »
    i strongly suspect most people here are smart enough to realise two (2) things

    - OS X is viable at home and at work; there's absolutely no need to be overly anxious to prove this fact
    Only an idiot would try to imply that a Unix based OS isn't suitable for work. As such these sorts of people should be ignored.
    - NASA uses Linux as its default OS in both space and operational systems (i.e., the important stuff)
    This however is garbage. Last I knew NASA space based systems ran on one variant or another of a realtime operating system. Further many of the machines installed in mission control where Sun based machines. In any event I would fully expect NASA to mix and match platforms to suit the needs of the tasks at hand.

    In this regard I suspect that the large number of *NIX based systems in mission control just means that Apples hardware is very easy to integrate into the installation. Deep down Mac OS is UNIX so it should fit right in. It would be interesting to know though how many of those NASA specific apps are COCOA based as opposed to XWindows based. I did not get a chance to notice.
  • Reply 90 of 138
    radarradar Posts: 271member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post


     


    I know you're just a troll, but in fact NASA is a very cost effective and efficient operation, much more so than any part of the military for instance.  


     


    The only reason NASA is "suffering" is because their budgets are constantly being cut back in favour of more bombs and guns for the military.  Their entire budget is a faction of a fraction of almost nothing relative to the rest of the economy and only die-hard conservatives and tea party idiots believe that crap about NASA "wasting" money.  


     


    It's propaganda, not reality. 



    Absolutely agree. NASA and Apple and Co. represent the very best science and technology the United States has to offer humanity—invasions of Iraq, Grenada, etc.....not so much. If it were up to me a whole lot of that military spending would be diverted to NASA, medical research, education, veterans rehabilitation, American job creation programs, etc. America is armed to the teeth and can fight and no-one in their right mind will seriously mess with the U.S.A./NATO unless they want to be wiped off the face of the earth, and this will remain the case even if our military spending were cut back by at least 50-60%. 

  • Reply 91 of 138
    cilgcilg Posts: 18member


    Why would you think the remark was bigoted? As I read it, I thought he was referring to the shooting in Wisconsin and the Mars landing, and how great and terrible things happen at the same time.

  • Reply 92 of 138

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post





    Only an idiot would try to imply that a Unix based OS isn't suitable for work. As such these sorts of people should be ignored.

    This however is garbage. Last I knew NASA space based systems ran on one variant or another of a realtime operating system. Further many of the machines installed in mission control where Sun based machines. In any event I would fully expect NASA to mix and match platforms to suit the needs of the tasks at hand.

    In this regard I suspect that the large number of *NIX based systems in mission control just means that Apples hardware is very easy to integrate into the installation. Deep down Mac OS is UNIX so it should fit right in. It would be interesting to know though how many of those NASA specific apps are COCOA based as opposed to XWindows based. I did not get a chance to notice.




    I think you're right that many of the machines in mission control are Sun based. At the very least it was an OS that I wasn't completely familiar with when I worked in there a few months ago during the SpaceX mission.

  • Reply 93 of 138
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Gazoobee this is complete lunacy.
    gazoobee wrote: »
    I know you're just a troll, but in fact NASA is a very cost effective and efficient operation, much more so than any part of the military for instance.  
    considering that we now have private companies doing what NASA did far cheaper I'd have to say that is complete bull crap. Further knowing a few people that once worked in industry supporting NASA I can say with complete satisfaction they weren't interested in efficiency or cost control.
    The only reason NASA is "suffering" is because their budgets are constantly being cut back in favour of more bombs and guns for the military.
    This is even more uninformed as the military is taking incredibly deep cuts. Frankly cuts at a time when we should be preparing for war.

    The vast majority of our budgetary problems these days are directly the result of the welfare state. Giving money to the shiftless and lazy is just plain stupid.
     Their entire budget is a faction of a fraction of almost nothing relative to the rest of the economy and only die-hard conservatives and tea party idiots believe that crap about NASA "wasting" money.  
    Any reasonable person should be concerned about government waste it has nothing to do with your political perspective. NASA wastes money just like every other governmental organization sometime they are even directed to do so by congress. The big problem with the space program these days is the big project mentality, the current example being the drive for a Mars exploration program. It is complete stupidity to go after Mars when we don't have viable space based craft, shielding technologies for those craft and a host of other technologies in place to keep those in those craft viable as humans over the duration of the trip.

    I liken the need for space craft to support our endeavors in space as a bit like the Navy. A countries first Navy vessel is never an aircraft carrier but rather a smaller vessel and it's support ships. Before we go to Mars we really should get some experience building ships suitable for long durations in space.
    It's propaganda, not reality. 
    You mean what you have posted here.
  • Reply 94 of 138
    v5vv5v Posts: 1,357member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    [...] the historical landing of the Curiosity rover on planet Mars last night.

     


     


    Dear Mr. Lane:


     


    If you're going to write the news we read, please pick up a dictionary and learn the difference between the words "historical" and "historic."


     


    Thanks!

  • Reply 95 of 138
    steven n.steven n. Posts: 1,229member
    emacs72 wrote: »
    i strongly suspect most people here are smart enough to realise two (2) things

    - OS X is viable at home and at work; there's absolutely no need to be overly anxious to prove this fact
    - NASA uses Linux as its default OS in both space and operational systems (i.e., the important stuff)

    Nope. Of the dozen or so aerospace systems I have worked, Linux has never even once been remotely considered for flight control based software. Used heavily on GSE and mission operations but never on the actual important stuff. I am sure there are few isolated designs that use it, but Linux is a distant afterthought for the most part.
  • Reply 96 of 138
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Being fully aware of both, his comment was still offensive and bigoted. That might not have been his intention, but the sparseness of the comment would leave one to think his intentions where less than honorable.
    cilg wrote: »
    Why would you think the remark was bigoted? As I read it, I thought he was referring to the shooting in Wisconsin and the Mars landing, and how great and terrible things happen at the same time.
  • Reply 97 of 138
    ssquirrelssquirrel Posts: 1,196member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post

    The vast majority of our budgetary problems these days are directly the result of the welfare state. Giving money to the shiftless and lazy is just plain stupid.

     


     


    Does this mean we can stop paying Congress? :)  Given what they have actually managed to vote on the last 3 1/2 years, they seem pretty shiftless and lazy to me.


     


     


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post

    This is even more uninformed as the military is taking incredibly deep cuts. Frankly cuts at a time when we should be preparing for war.


     


     


    Uhm I'm sorry but, what the ****?  Where do you see deep cuts to the military?  2000-2011 DOD budget INCREASES every single year.


     


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._Defense_Spending_Trends.png

  • Reply 98 of 138
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    radar wrote: »
    Absolutely agree. NASA and Apple and Co. represent the very best science and technology the United States has to offer humanity
    Oh come on here, Apple sells electronic gadgets and computers, it is really nothing special in the overall view of things. There are many companies and universities making real contributions to the betterment of humanity. Your statement is enough to turn stomachs in people with a wider view of the world.
    —invasions of Iraq, Grenada, etc.....not so much.
    Ask the people in Grenada what they think of the invasion. Or for that matter the people in Iraq. Frankly the world is suffering more from our lack of military intervention than because of it. There are many bad players out there right now leading to suffering by millions. Look at North Koreea, Syria, Eygpt, and a host of African countries where people suffer at the hands of their governments.
    If it were up to me a whole lot of that military spending would be diverted to NASA, medical research, education, veterans rehabilitation, American job creation programs, etc.
    That would be totally assinine!! There is plenty of money in the budget for that sort of thing, it is called welfare!
    America is armed to the teeth and can fight and no-one in their right mind will seriously mess with the U.S.A./NATO unless they want to be wiped off the face of the earth,
    That is complete BS.
    and this will remain the case even if our military spending were cut back by at least 50-60%. 

    More BS.
  • Reply 99 of 138


    image

  • Reply 100 of 138
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    ssquirrel wrote: »
    Does this mean we can stop paying Congress? :)  Given what they have actually managed to vote on the last 3 1/2 years, they seem pretty shiftless and lazy to me.

    I'd like too.

    The reality is they have been shiftless and lazy and only seem willing to find nonproductive leftist agenda items. NASA is a perfect example where coherent direction from congress could lead to stream lining the organization and getting us back on track with space exploration. It is unfortunate but congress seems to have forgotten that Aeronautics and Space are the reasons NASA was created and are what NASA should be focused on.
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