Timeline for Will a computer be allowed to "self-destruct" astronauts (or passengers)?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
13 events
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| Jun 17, 2020 at 8:54 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
Commonmark migration
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| Nov 4, 2018 at 2:05 | comment | added | uhoh | 21space link seems broken, but the same article seems to be in Spaceflight Now so I've addded that link. | |
| Nov 4, 2018 at 2:05 | history | edited | uhoh | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 146 characters in body
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| Feb 28, 2018 at 21:37 | comment | added | Saiboogu | Submitted an edit -- AFSS is by definition a feature built into the launch vehicle rather than a service provided by the range. The Air Force, NASA, SpaceX & (I believe) ULA have all worked to make it a reality, but the implementation is owned by individual launch providers. | |
| Feb 28, 2018 at 21:36 | history | edited | Saiboogu | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Proposed edit to remove claim the Air Force offers AFSS to all launch providers. The system is built on some standards and available to all, but the launch providers must build it into their vehicles. It is by definition *not* offered by the range, but provided by the vehicles themselves.
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| Mar 14, 2017 at 18:44 | comment | added | MSalters | @Joshua: Keep in mind that computers became a billion times faster, cheaper and smaller in the mean time. (That's pretty literal). That makes excessive redundancy an option. Also, the launch phase where you need this is within the atmosphere and thus low-radiation, which means a lower risk of externally induced errors. | |
| Mar 14, 2017 at 3:42 | vote | accept | uhoh | ||
| Mar 12, 2017 at 20:57 | comment | added | Joshua | @jkavalik: They planned for that eventuality on the Apollo missions; the failure mode handled was total computer failure. The shuttle theoretically had the ability; however they believed no pilot could do it in early flight. Once in vacuum it was quite controllable. | |
| Mar 12, 2017 at 20:25 | comment | added | jkavalik | @Joshua I believe there is no way a pilot could take control at that point. If the computer is not able to keep the rocket in the safe zone and on the right trajectory, human pilot won't be capable of fixing it. | |
| Mar 12, 2017 at 19:34 | comment | added | Hobbes | "slow enough" is a matter of setting a timer: send launch command to escape system, wait until capsule is clear, then destroy the rocket. The destruct system doesn't need to be fast, it just needs to be fast enough to destroy the rocket before impact. | |
| Mar 12, 2017 at 19:17 | comment | added | Joshua | The idea in this case is AFSS is slow enough for launch escape to work. I still wonder what it's going to do in the case of a human pilot taking control after guidance failure. | |
| Mar 12, 2017 at 18:56 | comment | added | uhoh | Thanks - this is a much more thorough answer than I'd hoped for. I appreciate the time and effort. | |
| Mar 12, 2017 at 18:02 | history | answered | Hobbes | CC BY-SA 3.0 |