Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!feeder.erje.net!eu.feeder.erje.net!news.stack.nl!aioe.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "Rod Pemberton" Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth Subject: Re: Comet Landing - a triumph for Forth in Hardware and Forth in Software From steering telescopes to steering Philae Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 22:29:37 -0500 Organization: Aioe.org NNTP Server Lines: 36 Message-ID: References: <9d07693c-9246-4dce-b1a0-71edcb95be3b@googlegroups.com> <27eae3a5-e450-4f7a-b1b9-1efe24d8f14b@googlegroups.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: t8ndaeG/c/i4njjRIfK8kA.user.speranza.aioe.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: abuse@aioe.org User-Agent: Opera Mail/12.16 (Linux) X-Notice: Filtered by postfilter v. 0.8.2 Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.forth:34529 On Wed, 19 Nov 2014 20:58:49 -0500, wrote: > [...] > Anyway, I see the best use of these radhard RTX2000 processors to be > hardening important electronics (mostly the power-grid) here on Earth > against a Carrington Event --- [...] Most U.S. produced, radiation hardened processors are subject to ITAR restrictions. I.e., even where legal, their use is avoided to prevent unintentional ITAR violations. Also, why would they use RTX2000 series when radiation hardened Intel Pentiums have been available since 1998? http://www.sandia.gov/media/rhp.htm Why would they use radiation hardened processors for the power-grid? That's an extra expense for protection from highly unlikely events. It's almost like a homeowner investing in a lightning rod or a horse whip. You might need one someday, but it's far more likely you never will. I.e., this doesn't seem to pass a cost versus benefit test. There is a certain sense of efficiency and practicality that engineers and businessmen have that others seem to lack. This reminds me of the photo of a man on his bicycle in Donetsk, Ukraine staring at a small gas pipeline. Most of it is low to the ground, much like a fence. Of course, it's way too low to cross over roads. So, it was raised, but only over the roads ... It was raised just enough so that an average height truck wouldn't hit the pipe. Rod Pemberton