NASA has pretty much scrubbed the January 10th launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis while they try to fix the Engine Cut Off (ECO) Sensors on board the fuel tank. No new launch date has been set as NASA wants to ensure they fix the problem before they attempt a launch, and rightfully so. Earlier this month, two straight launch attempts were scrubbed because 2 of the sensors (as shown in the picture above) gave false readings in a test prior to launch. These sensors control and trigger when the shuttle's main engines cut off approximately 8 minutes and 40 seconds into the launch. Their design is to trigger that the fuel tank is empty so the engines don't try to keep firing on an empty tank. If they were to do so, the result would cause severe, if not catastrophic damage to the orbiter. Each tank has four sensors and only one needs to be functional in order for the engines to properly shut off, but NASA is unwilling to risk it.

The good news is that from diagnostics and testing, the problem does not seem to be the sensors themselves, but rather the wiring and connections related to them. All repairs needed to get Atlantis spacebound should be able to be done on the pad, so that will save them from having to roll Atlantis back to the Vehicle Assembly Building.

NASA Shuttle Director Wayne Hale is unsure of when the new launch date will be announced and will set the date when the problem is resolved. As it should be, the 2008 launch schedule is not going to influence the decision on when Atlantis is truly ready to launch, it could be days or weeks past the scrubbed January 10th launch date, all depending on how well the repairs go. NASA has an ambitious 6 launches planned for 2008, so if they can indeed fix the problem fast enough, the schedule should not be affected too much. On another not, Atlantis' final scheduled mission, STS-125 scheduled for August 2008, will be the final Non-ISS mission of the Space Shuttle Fleet as it will be heading up to fix and service the Hubble Telescope.

It's also interesting to note that since the Shuttle's return to flight, Atlantis has never launched on time (excluding weather delays and the normal stuff). STS-115 in August/September 2006 (Atlantis' first flight after Columbia) was delayed almost 2 weeks because of a Hurricane. They unloaded the cargo and started to roll it back to the VAB for protection. Halfway back, when the Hurricane lowered to a tropical storm, they did end up reversing course and sending Atlantis back to the pad, but NASA then had to re-prepare Atlantis all over again. STS-117 scheduled for a March 2007 launch had its fuel tank damaged by hail in late February causing a 3 and a half month delay. It's third launch, this one, STS-122 now has this ECO Sensor issue further delaying its launch.

NASA Scrubs January Shuttle Launch [msnbc.com]

Tags: nasa, spaceshuttle, atlantis, sts122, news

The Economist has an interesting article predicting that open-source adoption will rise in 2008. They are crediting a lot of this to Ubuntu and rightfully so. While there are many other great distributions of Linux out there (Slackware, SUSE, Fedora, Gentoo, etc.), Ubuntu's relative ease of setup and install has helped many become more aware of Linux and the perks of open-source software. I can state from experience that I was monkeying around with Linux using such distributions as Fedora and Slackware, it wasn't until I tried Ubuntu that I really became hooked on Linux and open-source. To me starting out, Ubuntu was great. Ease of use, easy to install, and gave me a good feel for how Linux works, now allowing me to move on to other distributions should I choose, but at this point, I'll still be sticking with Ubuntu. While Windows and OS X are here to stay as many tend to be just too used to them to consider otherwise, it'd be nice to see more people make the switch to Linux.

The Economist: Ubuntu is the source of Linux's rise [blogs.cnet.com]

Technology in 2008 [economist.com]

Tags: linux, opensource, links, ubuntu

So I've been using Leopard now for about 2 months and so far I'm really liking it. There is however one little feature I do miss. The new Macs come with a feature called Front Row that pretty much turn your Mac into a giant iPod. (Imagine your entire screen becoming that of an iPod...it's a full screen dashboard with music, video, photo, and podcast playback) With your little remote you can skip songs, play, pause etc. It's a really nice feature and since I like listening to music while I fall asleep, it's great...I can control the playback while lying down.

The one thing that I miss with Leopard is the seemingly seamless integration between Front Row and iTunes. In Tiger, I could open up iTunes and start playing a playlist. Ten minutes later, I'm done working on the computer and I just want to bring up the playback with Front Row. I would bring up Front Row, go into the Music menu and click "Now Playing". The screen would then go to the song I was playing and never miss a beat. Playback was constant. The same would go for if I left Front Row and went back to my desktop. This however is not the case in Leopard. Front Row and iTunes seem to be two separate applications with the only linking between them being the shared iTunes music library and playlist. If I start playing in iTunes and then try to switch to Front Row or vice versa, playback stops. I would then have to navigate to the playlist in Front Row, or open iTunes and select my playlist to start playing music again, pretty much starting from scratch.

This may not seem like that big of a deal, and in all reality it's really not, but with how well Apple integrates the various programs in OS X, you'd kinda think that doing this wouldn't be that hard, especially since they did it in Tiger.

I also have 2 other small issues with Front Row, unless you select "Shuffle All Songs" at the beginning, it will play the songs in order. With my relatively large music collection, I like to keep my playlists on random just to get a variety of playback. I can't just select the first song I want to listen to and have it randomly go from there. If I select an individual song to start with, it will play that song and play the remainder of the playlist in order. The second small issue is that there's no option to turn repeat on from Front Row, so when it reaches the end of a playlist, it just stops.

These things aren't dealbreakers by any means as the rest of Leopard to me is amazing, including the important stuff like basic functionality. But these are just things that I wish Apple would have done.

Tags: apple, mac, frontrow, music, osx

Well I just got back from Christmas break. It was really nice to be home with the family. Second time in a row I've been home to a full house. Philip, Julianne, both home so it almost felt like I was back in high school again. Ever since I went to college, being a full family again never happened as much. I mean it's the way things go, but all being at the dinner table was nice. My relationship with my family is much better now thankfully so I'm very grateful.

Christmas went well. Everyone liked the gifts I got for them so that made me happy. I tried to get everyone something they could use and I appear to have been successful. I'm currently installing Windows back onto my desktop after installing my new hardware. New PVR should be easy to set up, just need a case, power supply, and DVD/CD drive.

It's back to the grind tomorrow so I'm kind of not looking forward to that, but such is life. Two days this week, then 3 next so I guess its not too bad.

Tags: christmas, vacation

So I'm staring at my ceiling now, trying to think and remember all the good times I've had as this past year has passed. There have been some great times, and some not-so-great times. But this past year has brought a lot of happiness into my life, and for that I am grateful.

The first big thing that hit me this year was Senior Design. The project turned out to be a helluva lot bigger than any of us thought it was going to be, so we were somewhat unprepared for what awaited us. Well in the end after many a long night, we were able to get a semi-half-sort-of-maybe-possibly working version of our software. Did it work? Well it worked enough to get us a B, which was good enough for us. We pretty much just wanted to be done with it at that point.

Then of course came my battle with Linear Algebra. The stupid class had been my arch nemesis since pre-junior year. After many hours painfully drilling numbers and formulas, and other fun things into my head, I took the exam. I was worried since the test was put in front of me. I was nearly devastated when I left after finishing. Yeah, I didn't think I did well in it. 2 days later I got news that I got a D on it, meaning I got a D in the course and that meant that I was graduating on time. Never in my life were I, and my parents happy to see me get a D.

Graduation day came and it was good and bad...good mostly. I finally was able to get my degree. I reconnected with someone who still is very special to me (you know who you are). But after graduation, things went a little south as I was dragged elsewhere when I was exhausted...but I'm not gonna get into too much more detail on that.

I got my first job after college which also meant I had to leave the US Army Corps of Engineers. That in itself was kinda hard as I had worked for them for almost 3 years. The job at Reimbursement Technologies started off well but in the end, it didn't turn out to be what I was looking for, so I ended up looking for a new job and would eventually find one.

My first car was an interesting experience. For the first time in my life I owned a car. A car that is mine and not my parents'. Now with that comes a lot of responsibility. I ended up getting a 2003 Ford Focus SE. The car itself is beautiful. 5 speed manual transmission, cruise control, MP3 CD Player, power windows and locks, keyless entry, everything I wanted and more.

My first "nice" apartment. In mid July, I moved out of Philly into my current residence in Eagleville, PA. To give you a basic idea, my bedroom alone is about as big as my last apartment was...but in respect, my last apartment was perfect for what it was. New place is a nice 1 bedroom apartment. I actually have such simple amenities like a dishwasher and disposal, and even nicer, a washer and dryer, though the place only came with the hookups, I had to buy the washer and dryer.

In mid-November, I started my new Job with ActiveStrategy. So far, it's a great job and I'm enjoying it...the rest of my life is beginning.

Happy Holidays everyone and a Happy New Year.

Tags: thoughts, thankful