Self-Healing Computers for Damaged Spaceships


	Self-Healing Computers for Damaged Spaceships

JohnWaterman

4-28-2008 5:58 AM

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/80e21e4b-96be-483a-ba3b-4ffb5737a895/030D9BEB-C909-417B-BB30-F713D9B1FDC6/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.universetoday.com/2008/04/27/self-healing-computers-for-damaged-spaceships/" href="http://www.universetoday.com/2008/04/27/self-healing-computers-for-damaged-spaceships/" style="font-size: 11px;">www.universetoday.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.universetoday.com/2008/04/27/self-healing-computers-for-damaged-spaceships/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.universetoday.com/img/4A1599E9-98F8-473E-8FB6-7B577AC0E03F" alt="View of the Westar 6 satellite while Dale Gardner retrieves it during STS-51-A in 1984 (NASA)" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.universetoday.com/2008/04/27/self-healing-computers-for-damaged-spaceships/">
What happens when a robotic space probe breaks down millions of miles away from the nearest spacecraft engineer? If there is a software bug, engineers can sometimes correct the problem by uploading new commands, but what if the computer hardware fails? If the hardware is controlling something critical like the thrusters or communications system, there isn't a lot mission control can do; the mission may be lost. Sometimes failed satellites can be recovered from orbit, but as there's no interplanetary towing service for missions to Mars. Can anything be done for damaged computer systems far from home? The answer might lie in a project called "Scalable Self-Configurable Architecture for Reusable Space Systems". <EM>But don't worry, machines aren't becoming self-aware, they're just learning how to fix themselves</EM></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.universetoday.com/2008/04/27/self-healing-computers-for-damaged-spaceships/">using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) to create self-healing processes at the chip-level</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.universetoday.com/2008/04/27/self-healing-computers-for-damaged-spaceships/">FPGAs use a combination of hardware and software</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.universetoday.com/2008/04/27/self-healing-computers-for-damaged-spaceships/">no human intervention</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.universetoday.com/2008/04/27/self-healing-computers-for-damaged-spaceships/">captivating research</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/030D9BEB-C909-417B-BB30-F713D9B1FDC6/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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