802.11b Space Suits 130
Saint Aardvark writes "The BBC has an article here about WearSat, the new generation of space suits: embedded RISC processor, 802.11b networking, VGA heads-up display, and 1GB microdrive. I want one for my rec room."
Can you imagine... (Score:1)
Re:Can you imagine... (Score:1)
hack the planet (Score:3, Funny)
embarassing noises (Score:2, Funny)
Imagine how much worse it's going to be when you go to the bathroom with not only the mike, but the streaming webcam too...
They might still need a radio (Score:5, Funny)
That won't be a problem.... (Score:1)
thanks for keeping our astrounauts alive. (a literal BSOD? scary?)
Uhoh... (Score:2, Funny)
All we need now... (Score:3, Funny)
About time... (Score:1)
...would certainly cut down on the B.O.
It would probably be easier to convince them to wear these to work than to use soap and shampoo on a regular basis.
~dlb
Embedded Death (Score:1)
"AirPump.exe has generated errors and will be closed. An error log has been created."
Re:Embedded Death (Score:1)
ANOTHER 802.11b Device? Gimme a break... (Score:1)
uh.. (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:ANOTHER 802.11b Device? Gimme a break... (Score:1)
Soon...soon... (Score:3, Funny)
"Using new technology, which is referred to as the microdisplay, we were able to fit a small active matrix liquid crystal display around an area where eye glasses would normally be worn," said Mr Schwartz.
This gives me hope that someday I'll be able to walk to the fridge and grab a coke without having to stop reading
Very fancy.
I want one! (Score:1, Interesting)
why the microdrive? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:why the microdrive? (Score:1)
Re:why the microdrive? (Score:1)
Re:why the microdrive? (Score:1)
The size is good, but, what's the point of a 1gb microdrive? Why not a 100 or 200 meg low-density 1200rpm laptop hdd? It'd prolly cost as much as the microdrive, but I say it'd be a far site more reliable!
Re:why the microdrive? (Score:2, Insightful)
More to the point, I can't see any reference to an input device.
Anyone remember that eye-tracking mouse replacement thing?
Re:why the microdrive? (Score:1)
Re:why the microdrive? (Score:1)
Re:why the microdrive? (Score:1)
Duh... the astronauts have to have somewhere to keep their MP3s... 1 gig should be plenty to keep you going during a boring spacewalk.
Though now that I think about it, they do have a VGA display in their helmets... pr0n anyone?
microdrives are silly. (Score:1)
Re:why the microdrive? (Score:3, Insightful)
The limiting factor in just about all spacewalks are battery life. You can get about 4 hours max. Every milliamp matters. Currently the suit uses an old rad hardened cpu that runs at like 8mghz(I think its an NEC but I'm not positive, and I believe is now out of production). Last I knew they are looking to upgrade that to a more recent/powerful cpu and I believe a rad hardened PPC was in contention. However, the form factor size was about double the current and I believe it drew like 20% more power than the current.
Currently NASA on the ground gets real time data from about a dozen various systems in the suit. This info includes things such as voltage readings, temp, air flow rates, etc.
More info can be had here: here [hsssi.com]
Re:why the microdrive? (Score:2, Funny)
802.11B? (Score:3, Funny)
In space no one can hear you scream...
if you are more than a few hundred yards away.
Re:802.11B? (Score:2, Interesting)
2) Just how far do you want a spacewalking astronaut to be from his/her base?
Re:802.11B? (Score:1)
How long is ISS? Yes they can have relay stations scattered through out but how about when they repaired Hubble. Satellites are designed to protect their internal circuitry, if you are on the other side of a satellite working you will get a lot of signal degradation.
I am not staying that it is a horrible idea, it will certainly make space safer and easier but there are other wireless networking standards with a greater range.
But how do they type? (Score:1)
And if the thing just displays data sent to it over the LAN, why bother with the HD at all?
Re:But how do they type? (Score:2)
Re:But how do they type? (Score:1)
RTFA - Its a buddy system... (Score:1)
like I said, RTFA
Yeah! (Score:1)
apple space suits (Score:1)
Re:apple space suits (Score:1)
Re:apple space suits (Score:2)
Hmm like the intel guys maybe?
The real test will come when... (Score:4, Funny)
Open the pod bay doors, Hal (Score:1)
Re:Open the pod bay doors, Hal (Score:2, Funny)
Fitting the wearable computer... (Score:2, Interesting)
It might even add to the insulating properties of the suit.
And for my comedy points...
does the space suit play mp3s?
OS (Score:1)
heh your rec room (Score:1)
Screenshot (Score:1)
And here is a screenshot [pi.cnr.it] of the HUD.
It's amazing what they can do these days... :-)
In 2001, no less. (Score:2, Funny)
Hal, open the pod bay doors.
Open the pod bay doors, Hal
Hal? Do you read me Hal
Hal, I have my space suit, you open the pod bay doors now or I will r00t your b0x0r with my 1337 5k1llZ!
The Headlines of Tommorow (Score:1)
2600's answer (Score:3, Funny)
A Brave New World (Score:1)
Seeing as how new breakthroughs in technology open roads to even newer developments (providing that the parent advancement doesn't flop.)
Perhaps this can be applied to the Military, Policing, Security and Fast Food!
And this is what's wrong with NASA (Score:3, Insightful)
Nowadays, I read space.com [space.com] and feel an overwhelming sense of depression. I see billions of tax dollars wasted on multimillion dollar toy space suits, and paying large salaries to Slashdot trolls [slashdot.org] and other function-free individuals.
NASA is a drain on the nation's economy, and we need to send them a clear message: shape up or ship out. We need to run them like the R&D division in a corporation: if they can't produce useful results, innovations, and profit within a few years, we need to start cutting projects and staff. I want to see NASA become synonymous with "technical progress" like it was when I grew up; right now, it is synonymous with "wasted tax money" and that is not a favorable label to have during such a terrible recession.
freebsd guy
Re:And this is what's wrong with NASA (Score:2)
Nowadays, I read space.com [space.com] and feel an overwhelming sense of depression.
NASA is a drain on the nation's economy, and we need to send them a clear message: shape up or ship out. We need to run them like the R&D division in a corporation: if they can't produce useful results, innovations, and profit within a few years, we need to start cutting projects and staff.
Ah, we want *MORE* dead end space spectaculars. (Which is what the moon landing was.) We want *more* Buck Rogers, it's not useful unless it's *BIG* and *REALLY LOUD*. (Of course you ignore the ongoing Mars work, and the Hubble, and Galileo, and many other current projects...)
Re:And this is what's wrong with NASA (Score:4, Insightful)
What makes you think it isn't? Just because we haven't found e.t. or colonized the moon yet doesn't mean we aren't making technical progress.
right now, it is synonymous with "wasted tax money" and that is not a favorable label to have during such a terrible recession.
On the contrary one of the better ways to get out of a depression is known as Keynsian economics (I probably misspealt it) where the government spends money with the effect of creating jobs and stimulating the economy. While this is somewhat beside the point as it is usually done with blue collar workers is this case the result is somewhat the same. For every dollar spent on Nasa I've heard estimates of everywhere from $12-$20 being generated in the ecomony. That's not to mention the huge technical advances derived from the space industry (how common do you think sattelite communicaton would be if it wasn't for the pioneering experience from the space industry, not to mention numerous innovations that have come from the space program. I recall a while ago I found a link to a site on /. (Im sorry but I'm on a slow connection now and don't have the time to look it up now) that listed many of these innovations (I believe velcro may of been among them although I may be mistaken). Still it is important not to realize that advances must not be obvious to be important, it would be foolhardy to throw away so much future knowledge over anxieties over a downturn in the economic cycle. Right now the fields of research being explored by Nasa and increasingly by the international community are relatively new to are species are we still understand little of what we may learn to do, can we afford to risk trowing away so muchin the long run to ease short term suffering.
p.s. Sorry for the ramble;)
Re:And this is what's wrong with NASA (Score:4, Insightful)
First off, NASA has produced thousands of spinoffs [seds.org], and I guarantee you use several of them every day [thespaceplace.com].
But even aside from that, NASA isn't a corporation and not everything should be run as one. You need some "blue-sky" research that isn't focused on a specific goal. You don't know what you'll find, but you'll find something.
Now, incompetence and dumb mistakes [cosmos-club.org] (why didn't they use a second intererometer to check?) need to be dealt with, but overall I'd keep NASA. What we really need is some revisions in space law so that private companies can do more space research and run their own launches. Then we get the best of both worlds (no pun intended).
Re:And this is what's wrong with NASA (Score:1)
"When deep space exploration ramps up,
it will be corporations that name
everything. The IBM Stellar Sphere.
The Philip Morris Galaxy. Planet
Starbucks."
~Narrator~
Re:And this is what's wrong with NASA (Score:1)
Besides, I'd rather see the corporations up there than see no one up there. And as it is now, practically no one's up there (literally no one, if you go above LEO and exclude robots).
Re:And this is what's wrong with NASA (Score:3, Insightful)
I want to see Americans become synonymous with "visionaries" like it was when I grew up. Currently Americans are synonymous with "self centered" and that is a terrible label to hold during any generation.
Why no super-collider? Why not finish the final mile? Why this unrelenting bent that all research must be practical to rate funds and that pure research isn't worth anybody's time?
See, you may blame NASA but I remember watching people grow blas'e after a few moon landings and then living through the "Me" generation. Your visions of space colonies and progress died by banality and imo NASA's biggest "mistake" during that time was trying to get people fired up over the space program with elaborate projects that could get enough interest for funding. To quote Pogo "I have seen the enemy and he is us." It takes two to tango and NASA isn't leading if you ask me.
Re:And this is what's wrong with NASA (Score:2)
You'd do well to study history rather than rely on memories. The entire nation focusing on a single dream is a rarity, not a common thing.
I want to see Americans become synonymous with "visionaries" like it was when I grew up.
I'd be curious to know what alternate timeline you grew up, because once again history fails to support your claim.
Why this unrelenting bent that all research must be practical to rate funds and that pure research isn't worth anybody's time?
You really should read less FUD and more facts. Ever heard of the Hubble? Basic research. Or of the VLBA? More basic research... The list goes ever on. The super collider was cut because not all basic research can be funded. Life's like that.
Flackdot (Score:1)
The only info in the BBC article was that they're putting computers in space suits with small eye displays. I could do that in a week -- what really matters is the software. The display mock-up looks interesting, but not much in depth info here-- can't wait to see what kind of environment they come up with.
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. (Score:1, Flamebait)
"[...featuring...] an embedded RISC processor, 802.11b networking, VGA heads-up display, and 1GB microdrive. "
I don't even know where to begin how to point out how collosally stupid this idea is.
1) Good luck using ANY heads-up display during spacewalk. The glare from Earth alone is enough to blind most astronauts. If you're doing your walk during the timeframe where the sun is present, now you've got two problems to worry about in the glare departments. See, kids, thats why we have radio communication. A heads up display would be effectively useless in such an environment.
2) What idiot decided that Joe Astronaut needs a power-consuming VGA display? You want fries with that? For cryin out loud, you're life depends on battery power while you're untethered. Gee, lets make a suit that needlessly takes power away from those annoying non-essential features like pumps for HEAT and OXYGEN...Jeezus, this is stupid.
3) Suppose you had superpowerful eyeballs capable of overcoming the glare, and a massive slip in the oversight commitee allowed you to go up there with your go-go-gadget space suit to try out your wattage eating heads-up display. Does it _really_ take a RISC processor to tell you how much air you have left, how much power you have left, and other critical information? Nope. This smacks of buzzword bingo, and stinks of collosal stupidity perhaps even moreso than items #1 and #2.
4) If you look at the HUD mock-up they cleverly whipped up in MS Paint, you'll notice that their display is predominantly taken up with a window showing "mission objectives". If you need to be reminded of what the hell you're doing up there, you don't belong in the suit in the first place!! Jesus!
5) A 1GB Microdrive. Well, thats lovely. Now what are you going to do with it...It eats more power than static DRAM, and the microdrive would have to be protected from radiation exposure. A 1GB Microdrive also infers an IDE controller, which infers even more onboard power-consuming crap succepible to radiation and power loss. Oh, and not to mention, the platter will get demagnetized within seconds.
5) You want OTHER crew members both onboard and on the ground to monitor your bio stats while you're working. There are plenty of stories of astronauts who having gone on spacewalks, freak out and start drifting off. The whole point of such an operation is that the people inside the craft help guide the person in the suit. You dont go zipping off leaving a post-it note on the hull saying "I'm gonna go take some pictures!!!! bbak in 30 min!"
I want to hold my head in disbelief that this crap made the front page on Slashdot at the expense of perhaps hundreds of other stories, let alone the fact that MIT is sponsoring this diarrhea.
And yes, thats how I really feel.
Cheers,
Re:Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. (Score:1)
This hits the nail on the head.
Well except that the visors do a phenominal bit on the whole sun problem. It's really not all that bad anymore.
Re:Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. (Score:2, Informative)
You shouldn't have.
1) Good luck using ANY heads-up display during spacewalk. The glare from Earth alone is enough to blind most astronauts.
You do know that their helmets are already shielded against glare don't you?
2) What idiot decided that Joe Astronaut needs a power-consuming VGA display? You want fries with that? For cryin out loud, you're life depends on battery power while you're untethered. Gee, lets make a suit that needlessly takes power away from those annoying non-essential features like pumps for HEAT and OXYGEN
You did read the article or the website and notice that it's a *microdisplay*. Hardly a vast consumer of power.
3) Does it _really_ take a RISC processor to tell you how much air you have left, how much power you have left, and other critical information? Nope. This smacks of buzzword bingo, and stinks of collosal stupidity perhaps even moreso than items #1 and #2.
Pherhaps they chose an already space rated processor? Or one that's more compatible with their other hardware? Or compatible with the embedded system they'll need? (And RISC does not always mean 'fast, complex, powerful'.)
4) If you look at the HUD mock-up they cleverly whipped up in MS Paint, you'll notice that their display is predominantly taken up with a window showing "mission objectives". If you need to be reminded of what the hell you're doing up there, you don't belong in the suit in the first place!! Jesus!
What takes up most of the display space depends on the mode selected. In fact the map shown here [mit.edu] will be quite useful in orienting yourself in such a complex place as the exterior of the ISS.
5) A 1GB Microdrive. Well, thats lovely. Now what are you going to do with it...It eats more power than static DRAM, and the microdrive would have to be protected from radiation exposure. A 1GB Microdrive also infers an IDE controller, which infers even more onboard power-consuming crap succepible to radiation and power loss. Oh, and not to mention, the platter will get demagnetized within seconds.
The SDRAM and it's controls will have to protected against radiation exposure as well. Just out of curiosity, what do you think will demagnetize the platters? Existing hard drives in space don't seem to have that problem.
5) You want OTHER crew members both onboard and on the ground to monitor your bio stats while you're working. There are plenty of stories of astronauts who having gone on spacewalks, freak out and start drifting off.
A second '5)' you are at least consistent... So what's wrong with being able to check your own bio stats? I'm also curious as the source of your 'many stories' as the space community has never heard of any such thing being common or usual.
Re:Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. (Score:1)
And then somebody says something reasonable.... (Score:1, Interesting)
Since they are just sort of prototyping these things to bid to NASA, they probably are just using this as a proof of concept sort of thing.
NASA owns tons of frequencies. In real live suits, they'd probably use packet radio technology that they've already proven and gotten comfortable with.
Note that NASA's new "better, faster, cheaper" motto does not extend to situations where human life is concerned. If these radios are intended to assist in monitoring astronaut's vitals or performing other mission critical missions in which failure could result in a loss of life, they will certainly not be used.
Hell without that nice atmosphere to protect them, you'd think they'd be a little bit smarter than to use such low power crap with such a bad SNR up there.
What is everyone's facination with 802.11 anyway? It's cool but it's not magic, folks. In fact, it kind of sucks. It''s five+ year old tech. It'd be nice if all this energy was put towards lobbying the FCC to open up the spectrum so consumers could start using higher powers and more spectrum. Did anyone say ultra-wideband? How about software-defined radio? You think 11mbps is fast, some of the technology that exists today can do 11gbps (and on low enough frequencies and powers that it is both effective and safe) yet because of the FCC, we just can't use it. oh well. sucks to your government.
:: JOIN US! POST AS AC AND MAKE THE MODERATORS DO THEIR DAMN JOB
interferences? (Score:1)
couldn't this 802.11 thing introduce some unwanted interferences will all the equipment already there (either once in space or just before going out). I guess they will have to go for the real tests relative to interferences, not just the consumer grades one (ya know, the one where when the product is FCC approved it means it will only kill you in 15 years of usage
even the voice over 802.11? (Score:1)
Bad idea.. (Score:4, Funny)
"Ahh....nobody up here but you and me, Britney.."
Geez, I can just hear the comments now...
Oh No, (Score:1)
WarDriving (any city)
WarFlotilla (venice)
WarBalloonz
Environment suits (Score:1)
I believe NASA where researching new ideas that included hard suits.
A more cost effective solution (Score:2)
Does it run Windows? (Score:1)
Besides, it is just a ripoff of "Have Space Suit, will Travel."
test rig (Score:1)
Haven't they had enough problems with M$ operating systems?
What about the crackers? (Score:2, Interesting)
Maybe they'll put a new show on cable: Remote control spaceman battles! Now on Comedy Central!
Houston, we have a problem. Windoze crashed again. (Score:1)
Ah, roger that AlphaOne. Hold for instructions.
Houston, I'm getting cold. I thought you said the heaters were autonomous.
cckckckkc bzzt...
Houston?
OK, AlphaOne, we have a solution. Windows/SAT will automatically reboot and set defaults. Can you hold your breath for four minutes? OVER.
Roger that, Houston. I'm getting a bit light headed, though. Three times is enough. Can I go back to the ship? Please? OVER.
Negative, AlphaOne. The bird's USB auto-docking mechanism is offline for a bit. Stay put and hold for suit reboot. OVER & OUT.
(Shit, I'm cold.)
blindness? (Score:2)
We better hope this is NOT run by WIndows, otherwise some poor astronaut is going to float off into space and suffocate with only a BSOD filling his field of view.