Month: October 2020

The space operating systems booting up where no one has gone before

The updates don’t come every spring and fall, but space operating systems keep evolving.

ESA's Solar Orbiter mission will face the Sun from within the orbit of Mercury at its closest approach.

Enlarge / ESA's Solar Orbiter mission will face the Sun from within the orbit of Mercury at its closest approach. (credit: ESA/ATG medialab)

The ESA’s recently launched Solar Orbiter will spend years in one of the most unwelcoming places in the Solar System: the Sun. During its mission, Solar Orbiter will get 10 million kilometers closer to the Sun than Mercury. And, mind you, Mercury is close enough to have sustained temperatures reaching 450°C on its Sun-facing surface.

To withstand such temperatures, Solar Orbiter is going to rely on an intricately designed heat shield. This heat shield, however, will protect the spacecraft only when it is pointed directly at the Sun—there is no sufficient protection on the sides or in the back of the probe. So, accordingly, ESA developed a real-time operating system (RTOS) for Solar Orbiter that can act under very strict requirements. The maximum allowed off-pointing from the Sun is only 6.5 degrees. Any off-pointing exceeding 2.3 degrees is acceptable only for a very brief period of time. When something goes wrong and dangerous off-pointing is detected, Solar Orbiter is going to have only 50 seconds to react.

"We’ve got extremely demanding requirements for this mission," says Maria Hernek, head of flight software systems section at ESA. "Typically, rebooting the platform such as this takes roughly 40 seconds. Here, we’ve had 50 seconds total to find the issue, have it isolated, have the system operational again, and take recovery action.”

Read 48 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Rocket Report: An old Centaur comes home, Super Heavy construction begins

“We can launch rockets that have satellites into space from right here in Queensland.”

The Delta IV Heavy rocket lit up the night sky on Wednesday night, but not by launching.

Enlarge / The Delta IV Heavy rocket lit up the night sky on Wednesday night, but not by launching. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann / Ars Technica)

Welcome to Edition 3.18 of the Rocket Report! I'm thrilled this week to announce that I've written a book about the origins of SpaceX. It focuses on the Falcon 1 rocket, Elon Musk, and the early employees who carried out his vision. I spent oodles of time with Musk, who was expansive about those early years.

But just as importantly, I talked to dozens of the first SpaceX employees about those desperate days. Liftoff tells their story, and it is one hell of a tale. The book will be published by William Morrow on March, 2, 2021. You can preorder now.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Read 33 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Linux: Conservancy will mehr GPL-Klagen wagen

Zur GPL-Durchsetzung helfen nach Ansicht der Conservancy wohl nur noch Klagen. Der freigeklagte Code soll für Firmware-Projekte genutzt werden. (GPL, Linux-Kernel)

Zur GPL-Durchsetzung helfen nach Ansicht der Conservancy wohl nur noch Klagen. Der freigeklagte Code soll für Firmware-Projekte genutzt werden. (GPL, Linux-Kernel)

EU-Berichte zur Rechtsstaatlichkeit: Unvergleichlich mangelhaft

Der Bericht der EU-Kommission zum Stand der Rechtsstaatlichkeit in den Mitgliedsstaaten enthält bei Polen und Ungarn nicht viel Freundliches. Viel erstaunlicher ist, wie positiv der Bericht etwa über Deutschland ausfällt. Das bestätigt die Kritiker, di…

Der Bericht der EU-Kommission zum Stand der Rechtsstaatlichkeit in den Mitgliedsstaaten enthält bei Polen und Ungarn nicht viel Freundliches. Viel erstaunlicher ist, wie positiv der Bericht etwa über Deutschland ausfällt. Das bestätigt die Kritiker, die den Bericht insgesamt für untauglich halten

HorribleSubs Pirate Anime Site Throws in the Towel, “Killed By COVID”

HorribleSubs, one of the most visted pirate anime sites on the Internet, has shut down. According to its operators, difficulties balancing time between working on the project and doing other things were to blame. “After some reflection and evaluation, we realized moving on was the best way forward. You could technically say COVID killed HorribleSubs,” they report.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

HorribleSubsMore than a decade ago, anime-focused site HorribleSubs launched with a mission to provide subtitles for anime. In a Reddit AMA eight years ago, the site’s operator put a little more meat on the bones.

“We mainly do it to piss off CrunchyRoll, as stated in our mission statement. Philosophically, however, we started off disliking how CR fucked fansubbers up in the ass,” the site’s ‘Great Leader’ wrote.

It Began With Subtitles and Then Grew….and Grew

Over the years, HorribleSubs spread its wings way beyond its original mission, eventually distributing vast volumes of not only subtitles but also full copies of anime shows using BitTorrent. This supply of media made the site a favorite among fans and according to SimilarWeb stats, the platform enjoyed in excess of 11 million visits in August alone.

Clearly, both rules 2 and 5 of the site, dictating that no one should “talk about HorribleSubs” were widely ignored. Soon, however, it seems this banned topic of conversation will die out on its own. In a farewell message posted just a few hours ago, the site’s operator reveals that HorribleSubs has shut down, with immediate effect.

“We have grown way beyond what was originally imagined. But… as the cliché saying goes, all good things must eventually come to an end,” the announcement reads.

“This was a hard decision to make for the team, but the truth is, our real life responsibilities have been growing, especially in the times of COVID-19. COVID-19 has really impacted us in various ways, but ultimately it negatively affected how much time we were able to frequently contribute.

“After some reflection and evaluation, we realized moving on was the best way forward. You could technically say COVID killed HorribleSubs.”

HorribleSubs Didn’t Go Unnoticed By Copyright Holders

Given the scale of the platform and its userbase, it’s no surprise that copyright holders used various tactics to take the site down or render it less accessible.

In January 2019, for example, HorribleSubs was targeted in an Australian blocking injunction filed by Village Roadshow, Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount, Columbia, Universal, Warner and local anime distributor Madman Entertainment. The order was handed down in June that year, with many local ISPs blocking HorribleSubs along with dozens of other sites.

Just over a year later in July 2020, Disney Enterprises took similar action in India, obtaining an injunction from the High Court in Delhi compelling local ISPs to block 118 ‘pirate’ domains. Among them were several anime-focused platforms including Kisscartoon/Kimcartoon, Wcostream/watchcartoononline, kissanime, gogoanime, and 9anime. And, of course, HorribleSubs.

The Future Without HorribleSubs

While HorribleSubs itself is officially no more, anime fans will probably seek to fill the gap by using alternative platforms such as NYAA, which at last count was the fifth most-popular torrent site on the entire Internet.

While it’s not a direct replacement, NYAA carries huge amounts of content released by HorribleSubs. Indeed, if stats produced by NYAA are correct, it currently has in excess of 68,260 HorribleSubs torrents in its index.

In its parting message, HorribleSubs adds that it will keep its Discord up and may even post additional information about the shut down sometime in the future. At the time of writing, thousands of people are in the channel discussing the unexpected news.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.