The Haus

Saturday, January 15, 2005

How a Huygens Disaster Was Averted -- 1:42 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

We are all enjoying the sights and sounds of Titan sent to Earth by Cassini from the Huygens lander. What few realize is how close we came to getting nothing but garbage from it. The Italian company that made the radio link between the two crafts failed to take Doppler shift into account. To make matters worse, the timing information was in firmware, not software, so it couldn't be fixed en route. The whole flight had to be altered so that Doppler shift could be avoided. If it weren't for the persistence of one scientist, we would be bemoaning a very expensive failure today. Thanks Slashdot.

News for 01/15/2005

Recent Headlines

January 5, 2015: It Returns!
August 10, 2007: SCO SUCKS IT DOWN!
July 5, 2007: Slackware 12.0 Released
May 20, 2007: PhpBB 3.0 RC 1 Released
February 2, 2007: DOOM3 1.31 Patch

January 27, 2007: Join the World Community Grid
January 17, 2007: Flash Player 9 for Linux
December 30, 2006: Darkness over Daggerford 1.2
December 19, 2006: Pocket Tunes 4.0 Released
December 9, 2006: WRT54G 1.01.1 Firmware OK with Linux/Mac

All original information on this website is copyright © TheHaus.Net, 1999-2005. The use of original images, text, and/or code from this website without expressed written consent is prohibited. The authors of this site cannot be held responsible for any damage, real or imagined, which comes from the use of information presented on this site. All trademarks used are the properties of their respective owners. This site is not to be used as a floatation device (but if you try, I want a video tape of it).