Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!bagate!dsinc!unix.cis.pitt.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!casbah.acns.nwu.edu!eecs.nwu.edu!phil From: phil@eecs.nwu.edu (William LeFebvre) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: New Shuttle Computers Message-ID: <1991Mar11.195746.7050@casbah.acns.nwu.edu> Date: 11 Mar 91 19:57:46 GMT References: <1991Mar7.010752.10632@agate.berkeley.edu> <1991Mar9.044834.27802@cimage.com> Sender: news@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Mr. News) Reply-To: phil@eecs.nwu.edu (William LeFebvre) Organization: Northwestern University Lines: 23 Nntp-Posting-Host: pex.eecs.nwu.edu In article , yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu (Brian Yamauchi) writes: |> I recall that a GRID portable computer (with hard drive) *was* flown |> on a shuttle flight. I also seem to remember that it had more |> computing power and memory than *all* of the shuttle's onboard |> computers... A modified GRID is standard equipment on every shuttle flight. It is used by the crew to determine orbital position. It is informational ONLY. It does not actually control anything. I think it is only there to make the crew feel better: it is not used in any of the standard operating procedures. Its display is basically a duplicate of the big- screen map in mission control. A GRID, for those who don't know, is a laptop '386 machine. It is convection cooled. NASA modified it by taking out the builtin modem (not very useful in orbit) and adding a cooling fan in its place--- convection cooling doesn't work too well in orbit. William LeFebvre Computing Facilities Manager and Analyst Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Northwestern University