Mastodawn

Becca Royal-Gordon

Hot take: The Artemis livestream is a damning indictment of modern computing devices. It seems like half the radio chatter is troubleshooting email delivery problems, confusing user interfaces, or devices not booting or connecting. Literal astronauts with years of training can’t make our stuff work.
https://tech.lgbt/@quephird/116353383035378497

Danie🏒🏒e is officially a PWHL fan (@[email protected])

OMFG… I just heard Mission Control tell Artemis II literally, “Everything but email is go” LOLSOBBING MY ASS OFF NOW

LGBTQIA+ and Tech

kaffando 8h ago

So, it IS rocket science.

@kaffando @beccadax
Boo! (great job)
Booo!!

Allan Chow 8h ago

@beccadax they should just write on a piece of paper and show it to thw live stream camera

@beccadax @projectgus switching back to Windows was a mistake. So is using Bluetooth

My heart sank when I learned they are running outlook.

Taking the most bloody cursed piece of software imaginable to the Moon.

What a time to be alive.

RossMadness 7h ago

@rl_dane @beccadax Outlook: a program that crashes if you sneeze, struggles to keep the offline library properly in sync on a decent connection, and they said "send it into space".

I can't think of anything closer to Hell than being stuck in space with Outlook.

@rossmadness @beccadax

Same. That's low-key a crime against humanity.

I'd rather send email with an actual Apollo [DSKY] than use Outlook in space. Or on earth. Or anywhere else.

Actually, if forced to use Outlook, I might just see what the cold vacuum of space has to offer instead 🤣

I hated Outlook and called it pretty much the worst software ever written all the way back in 2000.

I can't imagine what flaming nonsense it is today. XD

Apollo Guidance Computer - Wikipedia

Grumble 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 🇬🇱5h ago

@rossmadness @rl_dane @beccadax Using Lotus Notes.

Anywhere.

@grumble209 @rossmadness @beccadax

Brofam, I still remember the day I got laid off, realizing that I'd never have to use Notes again was a definite silverlining.

I'd use rather Notes every waking minute of the rest of my life rather than futz wirh Snoutlook.

Krypt3ia 7h ago

@beccadax deploy clippy

Texan_Reverend 3h ago

@krypt3ia @beccadax

It looks like you're trying to go to the moon...

GT The Fae 7h ago

@beccadax It's like every computer but mine has been kinda sorta steadily breaking for the past like, three or four years.

AccordionBruce 45m ago

@GT @beccadax
It’s a constant debate whether to update and get added “security” or to do it and lose critical functionality

@beccadax Yeah, we live in a two-tier world, where flight software and other mission-critical components show that we know how to make systems reliable, but for the great majority of human-facing software we just...don't.

CM Harrington 6h ago

@beccadax @lisamelton @quephird I mean, they sacked all the old folks who knew how to actually build shit.

Patrick Loftus 🖖

@beccadax I always assumed opening Windows in space would kill your coworkers. 🤷

sleepy62🍁🛠️ 🖥️ 🔬 🌞6h ago

Ha! I was listening for a bit today and had the exact same impression. A bunch of manuals and shit had gone off line and they were trying to scrounge whatever local copies they could find.

victorvonvortex 5h ago

So it's easier to fix a space toilet than MS Outlook?

@beccadax we went from 4K getting us to the moon to this

Grumble 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 🇬🇱5h ago

@beccadax You realize this was all built by the lowest bidder, right?

Graham C 5h ago

@beccadax that's why this is the test run. The next launch will have someone from IT on board

a2800276 1h ago

@adamantichrist @beccadax ...to fix the printer use to print their mails.

@beccadax @Trilobyter do you have any info about this that you can share?

Trilobyter 4h ago

@Lizette603_23 @beccadax not much, I didn’t have anything to do with the portable computing devices, they’re important for crew planning, schedules, email, etc, but they’re not critical for Orion vehicle function or safety. They connect to WiFi & network connections which have to tie in to the Orion uplink/downlink radio comms. From what I’ve heard that is part of what’s causing their PCD issues, it’s not the same as the earth-based internet the off-the-shelf devices & software are made for.

Trilobyter 4h ago

@Lizette603_23 @beccadax that said I’m curious why they didn’t uncover these issues before flight, but it may be the case that they tested the PCDs with the internal Orion network but not with the full path of the Deep Space Network radio comms - because you can only use the DSN when you are beyond low earth orbit (DSN uses the huge radio dish antenna ground stations) - or a good enough ground emulation of the DSN. There’s often unanticipated subtleties that get you no matter how much you test.

Becca Royal-Gordon 3h ago

@Trilobyter @Lizette603_23 I’m just kind of amazed that email of all things is failing. The email protocols predate constant high-bandwidth connections to a homogeneous Internet; it’s almost impressive that modern email software somehow fails to function in the kind of environment the protocols were designed for.

Matt Palmer 2h ago

@beccadax if it's outlook talking to exchange, it is almost certainly not using SMTP/IMAP/etc.

@Trilobyter @beccadax thanks for weighing in

@beccadax
I mean, the original Apollo computer also had problems

Becca Royal-Gordon 4h ago

@sabik The avionics and guidance systems and so on are all doing just fine. It’s the mass market products that are falling on their faces.

(And the Apollo Guidance Computer did remarkably well even when it had to cope with out-of-spec hardware, as it did on Apollo 11.)

Chris Palmer 4h ago

@beccadax extremely correct take

John Carlsen 🇺🇸🇳🇱🇪🇺2h ago

I sure hope the next mission replaces these problematic Microsoft products.

How about FOSS, Linux, etc.?

JWcph, Radicalized By Decency 1h ago

@beccadax Also, like somebody else said, why in the name of Dr. Seuss' unmentionables would NASA allow as much as a single scrap of proprietary corporate software aboard a goddamn spaceship!?

I just don't see the an Apollo 13-style successful wrangling of an unforeseen technical space problem when Wiseman is on the horn with Microsoft tech support because an Outlook bug bricked all the onboard computers...

Alexander Janßen 11m ago

@beccadax NASA should fire everyone and hire Curious Marc instead. He'll rip out all that new-fangled hardware and replace it with refurbished, but fully working vintage hardware with a proven flight record.

@beccadax yeah the entire thing is a rushed PR stunt