NASA Will Man Destruct Switch Just In Case 196
Ant writes "Popular Mechanics reports if the looming Discovery mission or any other between now and the spacecraft's retirement loses control, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is prepared to ditch it in the Atlantic ocean — or blow it up. The article also shows complete no-fly-zone maps and a photograph of the switch."
I hope their communication channels are secure (Score:5, Interesting)
...would be pretty nasty if someone if someone figured out how the radio comms for this function worked.
Re:Four Buttons? (Score:3, Interesting)
The solution is even simpler, it just adds a resistor in the circuit so that the current flowing through the detonators are below ignition current.
More then one (Score:3, Interesting)
Two reasons for this come to mind, 1) The obvious not having to 'know' you were the only one who flipped the kill switch on people, and, 2) the effect of thinking it's only a one in some number chance it's really you flipping the kill switch means a faster response time (less emotional hesitation to interfere).
For all I know they do this already... it seems like a reasonable idea to me anyway.
Re:Space Shuttle Discovery (Score:4, Interesting)
As the parent said, remote destruct capabilities are simply par for the course when your strapping things to that much explosives and toxic chemicals. Really it should make us feel safer that NASA is honest about the risks and is willing to do what it needs to do to insure (as best as possible) public safety.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Space Shuttle Discovery (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Encoded Signals (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm sure the codes are tightly controlled. It's really not hard to design a very secure system, when it only needs to send one message, and that very rarely. An arbitrarily long, purely random key generated and distributed to the transmitter and receiver under tight security would do it. Denial-of-service would be a more difficult problem to address, but then jamming the signals isn't exactly easy when you're competing with some fairly high-power transmitters on high-gain dishes aimed right at the receiver. And they've got RF measurement vans that I assume patrol for interfering signals, malicious or otherwise.
Re:Already been used (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Already been used (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Encoded Signals (Score:2, Interesting)
Again, for the shuttle, the destruct units blow the solid rockets and the external tank, but not the orbiter itself -- not that it would matter unless they had already separated from the orbiter somehow.
And I remember that "Flight Termination Unit" in the picture with the 4 red switches. Those buttons with the paper bezel look like some cheesy add-on since then.
I agree with posters who said that this is nothing new -- the range facilities, including range safety, are used for all launches from the cape, manned or unmanned.
I heard that one day the electronics firm (~30 miles from the cape) where I worked got a call:"Are your antenna guys testing something on XXX MHz?."
"Yes..."
"Well knock it off, we're trying to launch a rocket here, and you're on the destruct frequency."