10 Years Later, Still Working!

Made in the USA.

I heard that the US Government has been "monitoring" this rover since day one! Personally, I am totally shocked and outraged!!!

apparently this "monitoring" extends to other planets !!!

How about Voyager. They are 36 years old, and still sending back data to earth, and with gyro stabilized antenna operation. How do you make a spinning gyro last that long, as well the power supply? And they still have propellant yet. voyager status

And then Hubble.

These have the intellect from around the world in them.

The space shuttle didn't do too bad either.

I worked on the communications systems packaging in the '70s. Surface mount didn't exist. Everything had leads and components that stood on end with J-bends in the leads.

Those were good times for America.

resistance if futile!!

That assembly predates me. But I did see them used and packaged as "blue cubes" at Collins Radio, for late 60s avionics. They had all sorts of functions implemented with them, and used for analog flight controls, and mechanical displays. That was the hey-day for mechanical engineers.

I started my career right when surface mount was switched over from thru-hole DIP (1984). Hard to beat a compliant joint. It took a few years to fix ceramic EPROMs to a BT PWB, that lasted 250 flight hours before solder joint failure. And now the lead is replaced with tin, and ball grid array components. All throw away assemblies. Not really a good package for robust aerospace applications. I wonder how you can make space electronics today with the loss of MIL-STD temp range parts. That and silicon geometries getting so small that single neutron event upset (SNEU) is now a real problem above 30Kft altitude (they are getting small enough that on the ground PCs have random upsets caused by this). Real tough to make this with commercial off the shelf (COTS) hardware. If it weren't for automobile applications (driving electronic specs), industrial and aerospace stuff would be hard to produce.

I never got to work space program stuff. But had lot's of fun making avionics better.

They were called cordwood modules. Can you guess why? Cooling was problematic, especially in orbit.

I'm old. I started in 1969. I did some work on rigid flex before it was well known.

Satellites, solar powered sea otter beacons, and polar bear tracking collars. Fake calculators that communicated with satellites for spies.

All old school now.

Old school.....but still enthralling to some of us...

Hmmm....I ordered something that had to do its job for 90 days. I got something that is surviving 3650 days and counting.....Musta paid too much.

Next time, maybe we should get the job quoted by those guys who design stuff to fail a week after the warranty is up..."hey Asok! Get on the line to Whirlpool!"

There's a negative side to exceeding a spec, too.

As a grizzled old engineer once told me when I was starting out, "son, you can't go up there and fix it if you don't do it right the first time".

Washing machines and sawmills are not in the same realm as spacecraft.

...without an oil change too!!

When people take ownership in what they are working at, everything changes. Their attitudes towards the work, their commitment to doing a great job, their diligence to quality control, etc. This happens when there is cohesion between leadership and management (may be one in the same), the people doing the assembly, the people in the office, the people cleaning the building, etc. When everyone is treated with respect. When the opinions of everyone is valued. When people are given the opportunity for input. When everyone knows they are a part of something great, there is a big vision to pursue, etc.

The opposing side is working at something out of necessity or obligation. It is like Henry Ford once said, "why is it when I get 2 strong arms there is a brain attached?" What supreme arrogance! He was also missing out on the collective wisdom, experience, initiative and innovation of many people. There was a statement made by Ray Kroc, who started the McDonalds franchise system, "none of us are as smart as all of us."

The people around us are a vast pool of ideas and we would be negligent in our leadership if we didn't allow for opportunity for their input.

A biography of Bill Walsh, past coach of the SF 49'ers and the winner of 3 Super Bowls while at SF describes a leadership philosophy of his. When he came to the 49'ers he instituted a program called "Standard of Performance" which was expected to be upheld by everyone in the organization, from star QB to ticket taker. This gave everyone a bar to measure up to and pursue. Consequently he took a 2 - 12 team to 3 Super Bowls in the next 8 years. Outstanding performance from a team unified around a goal/vision.

I don't see much connection between building spacecraft and making hamburgers.

You get a million chances to build a burger, but only one to build a complex electromechanical system to operate in the harsh vacuum of space. You can't throw the pickles out if they spoil on a satellite.

Yeah, maybe it's a team, but the stakes are infinitely higher when building $20 million dollar (US) satellites than burgers of Fords.

Now that I think about it, cars today probably have more computing power than Apollo 11 did.

Or, a washing machine.

From:

Apollo 11 and HTC Desire Which one is best - Brian Moreau

"I once came across a blog that suggested that most modern washing machines had more processing power than the Apollo space craft."

We've come a long way..............................

The point is not the mechanics of what is being done, it is the thinking process and work ethic of those doing the work. It doesn't matter what is being done although the consequences or impact are not equal. Some tasks have greater potential consequence, but how the workers approach their job/mission is a critical component.

"People will either benefit or suffer because of who we are, i.e. character, integrity, work ethic, committed to the mission, etc." That applies to everything we do with the understanding that the consequence of what we do is not equal in scope.

I think you will admit that exploring space is a much higher cause than making burgers for profit.

You are confusing motivation by an individual with dedication by a group individuals to a higher idea, I think.

From my Post #13: "When everyone knows they are a part of something great, there is a big vision to pursue, etc."

You are correct in that not all jobs are equal in scope and I agree. What I do want is that the people who work on a project perform to their highest level of capability. That is why Jim Collins said in "Good to Great" that "one needs to have the right people on the bus, in the right seat".

You can have highly trained people working on a project but if their heart isn't in it, their performance will show, along with the subsequent results.

Motivation and dedication are inextricably connected. You don't have one without the other.