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From: colwell@omews1.intel.com (Robert Colwell)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: New Shuttle Computers
Message-ID: <1991Mar13.170247.3719@omews63.intel.com>
Date: 13 Mar 91 17:02:47 GMT
References: <1991Mar4.202334.22118@casbah.acns.nwu.edu> <1991Mar5.013344.7971@umiami.ir.miami.edu> <1991Mar06.063034.12021@nowhere.uucp> <1991Mar7.010752.10632@agate.berkeley.edu>
Sender: news@omews63.intel.com (News Account)
Reply-To: colwell@ichips.intel.com (Robert Colwell)
Organization: Intel Corp., Hillsboro, Oregon
Lines: 26

In article <1991Mar7.010752.10632@agate.berkeley.edu> jwl@garnet.berkeley.edu (James Wilbur Lewis) writes:
>In article <1991Mar06.063034.12021@nowhere.uucp> sking@nowhere.uucp (Steven King) writes:
>>
>>   With the 230 lbs they saved they could put a couple hundred meg disk
>> array on each CPU and...  
>
>...watch their data get turned into a worthless pile of iron oxide if
>the spacecraft changes attitude while the drives are spinning!

In the "for what it's worth" category, I submit the following.  In the
early 80's somebody bought a Perq graphics workstation for use in pursuing
his dream of winning the America's Cup sailing prize.  At the time we
figured he was doing some kind of graphical modelling of the hull or
something.  Turns out the guy had the whole machine, Winchester disk and
all, mounted in a gimbal in the boat itself, and he was using the computer
to help plan race strategies in real time.  Given all the elaborate
precautions we had to take to even move a machine on a flat floor (head
locking screws etc.) our jaws dropped when we heard about this.  He claimed
it worked just fine.  Of course, if we tried to apply his "technology" to
the shuttle I suspect it's not his technical acumen we'd want, it's his
luck.

Bob Colwell  colwell@mipon2.intel.com  503-696-4550
Intel Corp.  JF1-19
5200 NE Elam Young Parkway
Hillsboro, Oregon 97124