space shuttle built with Y2k style bug...

[sao123]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15592141/

Year-end glitch could postpone shuttle launch
If December delays mount up, NASA would wait until 2007

By Irene Klotz

Updated: 4:49 p.m. ET Nov 6, 2006
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A computer problem could force NASA to postpone next month's scheduled launch of the shuttle Discovery until 2007 to avoid having the spaceship in orbit when the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve.

The shuttle is due to take off from the Kennedy Space Center in central Florida on Dec. 7 on a 12-day mission to continue construction of the half-built international space station.

But if the launch is delayed for any reason beyond Dec. 17 or 18, the flight likely would be postponed until next year, officials at the space agency said Monday.

To build in an added cushion, NASA may move up the liftoff to Dec. 6.

"The shuttle computers were never envisioned to fly through a year-end changeover," space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale told journalists at a Monday briefing.

After the 2003 accident involving the space shuttle Columbia, NASA started developing procedures to work around the computer glitch. But NASA managers still do not want to launch Discovery knowing it would be in space when the calendar rolls over to Jan. 1, 2007.

The problem, according to Hale, is that the shuttle's computers do not reset to day one, as ground-based systems that support shuttle navigation do. Instead, after Dec. 31, the 365th day of the year, shuttle computers figure Jan. 1 is just day 366.

NASA is under pressure to complete at least 14 more shuttle flights to finish the space station before the aging shuttle fleet is retired in 2010.

I'm speechless.

 

[biggestmuff]

A big "oops", huh?

 

[daniel1113]

Hey, at least the error wasn't caught while orbiting the earth, like during the Apollo program when the computers had to be reprogrammed in-flight.

 

[j00fek]

de plane! de plane!

 

[Exterous]

Well, at least they have a work around - although you have to wonder how good it is if they don't want to try it

 

[Tobolo]

It doesnt seem like it was an error. I seems to me like it was designed to cotinue counting, and over 20 people might have forgotten why. Now its a glitch lol.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Several hundred thousand nerds and computer scientists at NASA and they can't design a calendar for the space shuttle?

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Several hundred thousand nerds and computer scientists at NASA and they can't design a calendar for the space shuttle?

And they forget to convert from english to metric sometimes too...

 

[compuwiz1]

NASA engineers still wear horn rimmed glasses, use slide rulers, and have pocket protectors, with 23 different pens and pencils, protruding out of their shirt pockets.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Several hundred thousand nerds and computer scientists at NASA and they can't design a calendar for the space shuttle?

As was pointed out on Slashdot, non-standard systems and such were the order of the day. Back when these things were designed stable standardized systems did not exist (heh, they still don't). People made do with what they had.

I love how everybody thinks NASA, or anybody else, should be infallable.

 

[CycloWizard]

Originally posted by: sao123
The problem, according to Hale, is that the shuttle's computers do not reset to day one, as ground-based systems that support shuttle navigation do. Instead, after Dec. 31, the 365th day of the year, shuttle computers figure Jan. 1 is just day 366.

So they just have to wait for a leap year. Seriously, what would the systems possibly do just because they think it's day 366? Are they going to stop supplying oxygen?

 

[mugs]

Raise your hand if you've ever developed a robust library for handling dates on a computer...

I haven't, and the thought of doing so horrifies me. Dates never seemed so complicated until I became a programmer.

Edit: And taking that a step further, when you add complexity you introduce more potential bugs and reduce reliability. It makes testing more difficult.

 

[ForumMaster]

atleast they're addmiting it. with such a big budget (relatively) you'd think they program the computers a bit better.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: CycloWizard

Originally posted by: sao123
The problem, according to Hale, is that the shuttle's computers do not reset to day one, as ground-based systems that support shuttle navigation do. Instead, after Dec. 31, the 365th day of the year, shuttle computers figure Jan. 1 is just day 366.

So they just have to wait for a leap year. Seriously, what would the systems possibly do just because they think it's day 366? Are they going to stop supplying oxygen?

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35570

Space Shuttle downed by millennium style bug

Clock error on New Year's Day


By Nick Farrell: Tuesday 07 November 2006, 09:01

THE US SPACE SHUTTLE has a computer bug which might keep it from flying until next year.
According to Reuters, Nasa boffins are a little worried about what the shuttle's computer will be thinking about when the clock tolls the beginning of 2007.

Apparently, the shuttle's computers were not designed to fly through a year-end change over and do not reset to day one like the clocks on ground-based systems. The shuttle computers will think that January 1 is just day 366 of the year.

Not only will this cause problems if the astronauts attempt to use the computer to buy a book on eBay, but, if the shuttle's navigation systems are out of sync with ground control, it might get a bit confused and land in the wrong place.

Rather than fix the shuttle's aging computer system, Nasa has decided that it is safer to hold the next flight until January or speed it up so that the beast is not in space on New Year's Eve. µ

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
atleast they're addmiting it. with such a big budget (relatively) you'd think they program the computers a bit better.

I think the problem is more a lack of computing horsepower on the orbiter. Wasting all the CPU power necessary to implement a full calendar-calculating algorithm on a very limited computing platform (1.2 MIPS) wouldn't make much sense for a situation that can only occur once a year, IF the shuttle is actually in orbit, and can easily be planned around.

To me, the story is that everybody at NASA forgot that the shuttle doesn't handle year-end rollovers.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: sao123

I'm speechless.

I'm not surprised. Those things are old. They began work on the shuttles shortly after the Moon landing. They go back a good long time.

Originally posted by: K1052

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Several hundred thousand nerds and computer scientists at NASA and they can't design a calendar for the space shuttle?

And they forget to convert from english to metric sometimes too...

Lockheed worked in English, contrary to like, the entire scientific world.

 

[Syringer]

I want my tax dollars back.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Syringer
I want my tax dollars back.

I think you should be more concerned with pork barrel spending, bill riders, and corruption. That stuff eats up more taxpayer money than NASA's entire budget.

 

[Lithium381]

i still don't understand why it's a problem, big deal if it doesn't think it's day 1? just setup the macros to run on day 366 instead of 1.....:-\