Hi John:
If true it's pretty sad considering that one of the popular kid+teen shows
on the weekend on both sides of the ocean is "Robot wars" hosted by the
British co-star of Red Dwarf the space sci-fi series. The robot show has
masses of home-built robots battling for supremacy in one on one combat. A
common attack is to flip the opposing robot on its back. Any robot that
can't right itself after being flipped is doomed.
I imagine that the builders of the Beagle approached the problem with an
academic and scientific mindset rather than a "it doesn't matter if it can
support 15 experiments instead of 12 if the thing dies 10 minutes after
activation" attitude. I have seen this many many times as I
evaluated/oversaw university R&D projects versus industry projects. I wonder
if that's what happened to the poor Beagle.
It reminds me of a show I saw where a team of American air force pilots got
to go to Russia and fly some MIGs. They arrive over there and couldn't
believe the difference in conditions. Back in the west, runways were
spotless and every morning a line of guys would sweep the terrain on foot
making sure that no small objects were around to get sucked into the engines
of the jets. In Russia there was grass was up to a metre tall in patches on
the runway with bits of litter blowing around. They had compensated by
putting air intakes on top of the wings for when the jet was on the ground.
The designers simply noted that war zones were dirty places and that
warplanes that couldn't deal with a bit of litter weren't going to last long
anyway.
Perhaps the makers of the Beagle should have spent more time watching TV.
:^)
Mark
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Altman [mailto:jaltman@altlaw.com]
Sent: Sunday, February 01, 2004 12:26 PM
To: 'jonmac'; 'Triumph List'
Subject: RE: Query - 'Lucas' related - non LBC
Yes, they discovered a file limit to the number of files in flash ram and
the failure was a consequence of too many files. They deleted a gob and it
appears that all is well now. Maybe they can send it to Beagle and flip it
over. I have an image of a bug on its back.
Jim Altman jaltman@altlaw.com
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-triumphs@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-triumphs@autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of jonmac
Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2004 6:54 PM
To: Triumph List
Subject: Query - 'Lucas' related - non LBC
Perhaps I haven't been watching the TV or newspapers as well as I should of
late - but does anyone know if the Lucas electrics on the Mars buggy have
been sorted out yet by Mission Control? Our little 'Beagle' that I believe
went up piggy-backed to a French Ariane propulsion vehicle (even tho it did
get there first) is said to have fallen into a crater and is now upside
down. Reliable hearsay is to the effect that it was fitted with Motorola
gyros.
Jonmac
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