Re: Will Boeing Use Ada To Build $9 Bln Network For Teledesic?

[pontius@btv.vnet.ibm.com (Dale Pontius)]

In article <5kb77u$89@bcrkh13.bnr.ca>,
        kaz@vision.crest.nt.com (Kaz Kylheku) writes:
> In article <3368134a.21286600@news.mindspring.com>,
> Robert Munck <munck@acm.org> wrote:
>
>>low-level control from ground stations!  This means a whole lot of
>>software on each (perhaps 20% of the total weight) with tremendous
>>reliability, security, and throughput requirements.
>
> I wasn't aware software had that much mass! :)

Not only that, but software is really information. That means you
can assign an entropy value to it, which also means you can assign
a temperature to it, as well.

Hot now software takes on a new meaning.

Really, I suspect the 20% of weight they're talking of is, of
course storage media, be it RAM, ROM, or tape. But what may have
really happened here is that a threshold has been crossed. Perhaps
the storage technique that worked with less sophisticated (or
bloated?) software has become insufficient. Perhaps the issue is
no longer "more of the same" storage, but a new hierarchy or new
media.

Is it possible to use a hard drive on a small satellite, or will
the rotating platters foul things up. I'd expect that the shuttle
is so big that the effect is insignificant.

Dale Pontius
(NOT speaking for IBM)