Posts by E-Penguin

99.97%? Really?

I'd like to see the workings-out on that particular statistic.

That's what safe mode is for...

The rover can't know what was in the file that didn't execute, maybe it was something critical, so to be on the safe side it goes into safe mode. It's a design feature that has saved many a spacecraft. This is "fail safe" as opposed to "fail operational" where it carries on working regardless.

ESA is not EU

Galileo is an EU project, not an ESA project. ESA is not the "Space Arm" of the EU. The two organisations are unrelated but collaborate on certain projects.

Even after the increase, £240 million a year is peanuts, considering the total size of the UK's annual budget (£682 billion for 2012).

Beagle2...

Had nothing to do with Metric vs Imperial. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beagle_2#ESA.2FUK_inquiry_report

No atmosphere, eh?

Of course there's atmosphere up there. A balloon is a lighter-than-air vehicle, thus it requires air to be lighter-than, otherwise no lift.

If there's enough air to hold a balloon up, there's enough air to use for a bit of drag for stabilisation; only a small force is required. Nobody's looking to create aerodynamic lift to hold the rocket up.

Also, the "rocket on the top with no other stabilisation" is a failure waiting to happen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendulum_rocket_fallacy

Flight stabilisation is needed. It's Big Fin or Gimballed Rockets. A rail isn't going to help at all once the rocket leaves the rail.

Hanging a weight on the back of the plane won't do anything...

... to the initial attitude at release. Heavier things don't fall faster than light things. Have we learned nothing from Galileo?

Gravity will act at the centre of mass and won't provide any turning force.

Horizontal launch with actively-controlled rockets to bring it to vertical is the way to go, like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_%28rocket%29

You could knock up a simple control system using an Arduino nano, a couple of tilt switches and a pair of servos, and to hell with roll rate.

well I don't think it's all that bad...

Just upgraded to 11.04, with the Unity interface, and it seems nice enough. Definitely an improvement on the beta, with the non-hideable launcher bar. If I want to do much more than surf the interwebs I just go into bash and type stuff anyway...

I particularly like the way it handles maximised windows on my netbook, putting the close/minimise/maximise gadgets up at the top, saving precious screen space.