Change In Experiment Will Delay Shuttle Launch 64
necro81 writes "A $1.5 billion gamma ray experiment, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, that was to have launched aboard the space shuttle Endeavor to the International Space Station in July, has undergone a last minute design change that will change the launch date, pushing back the end of the shuttle program by at least several months. The change replaces the original liquid helium-cooled superconducting magnet with a more conventional one, which will reduce the risks involved (superconducting magnets can be problematic — just ask CERN) and will greatly extend the useful life of the spectrometer (the liquid helium coolant would have boiled away within a few years of launch). Although the conventional electromagnet is only 1/5th as strong, its increased lifespan should allow for substantially more science to be conducted, especially considering the ISS's extended mission life. As the change is still underway, the impact to the final shuttle schedule is not fully known."
But does it run Linux? (Score:5, Funny)
If only it ran Ubuntu, then we'd know what's the Shuttleworth.
Re:Seriously? (Score:3, Funny)
IAASIE (I am a space instrumentation engineer)...
Quiet peon, and bow to the administrator! [flexes pencil like arms]
Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Funny)
They're waiting for the second-chance offer to come up on ebay.
Re:moJd down (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Seriously? (Score:3, Funny)
It is the National Air and Space Administration
Re:Seriously? (Score:3, Funny)
I prefer to tall this phenomonon VAES Syndrome (Verbose Acronym Explaination Syndrome... Awww crap).