HACKADAY LINKS: DECEMBER 12, 2021
It looks as though the Mars Ingenuity flight team is starting to press the edge of the envelope a bit. The small rotorcraft, already 280-something sols into a objective that was only supposed to last for about 30 sols, is taking riskier flights than ever before, as well as things got especially spicy during flight number 17 this past week. The flight was a simple up-over-and-down repositioning of the aircraft, however during the last few meters of descent at its landing zone, Ingenuity dipped behind a little hill as well as lost line-of-sight get in touch with with Perseverance. Without the 900-MHz telemetry link to the rover, operators were at first not able to discover out whether the chopper had stuck the landing, as it had on its previous 16 flights. Thankfully, determination chosen up a blip of data packets about 15 minutes after landing that suggested the helicopter’s battery was charging, which wouldn’t be possible if the craft were on its side. however that’s it as far as flight data, at least up until they can do something about the LOS problem. Whether that includes one more flight to appear above the hill, or perhaps even repositioning the rover, stays to be decided.
Thinking up strong passwords that are unforgettable sufficient to type when they’re needed is never easy, as well as most likely contributes more to the extensive utilize of “P@$$w0rD123” as well as the like than just about anything. however we got a tip on a technique the musically inclined may discover useful — generating passwords utilizing music theory. It utilizes basic notation for chords to find up with a long, seemingly random set of characters, like “DMaj7|Fsus2|G#9”. It’s quite brilliant, particularly if you’ve got the musical skills to understand what that would noise like when played — the rest of us can click right here to discover out. however since we can’t bring a tune in a bucket, we’ll just stick with the “correct equine battery staple” method.
Looks like you can only light so many roofs on fire before somebody starts to take an rate of interest in what’s going on. At least that seems to be the situation with Tesla, which is now under investigation by the us security as well as Exchanges compensation for not keeping its shareholders as well as the public looped in on all those pesky solar array fires it was having back in the day. The investigation stems from a 2019 whistleblower complaint by engineer Steven Henkes, who declares he was terminated by Tesla after pointing out that it truly would be finest not to light their customers’ buildings on fire with poorly installed solar arrays. It’s fascinating that the present investigation has nothing to do with the engineering elements of these fires, however rather the monetary implications of disclosure. We discussed a few of those issues before, which includes dodgy installation methods as well as seems to focus on incorrectly torqued MC4 connectors.
Staying with the Tesla theme, it appears like the Cybertruck is going to at first show up as a four-motor variant. The silly-looking vehicle is likewise supposed to sport four-wheel steering, which will obviously make it possible to drive diagonally. We’ve been behind the wheel for almost four decades at this point as well as can count on no hands the number of times diagonal driving would have helped, as well as while there may be an edge situation we haven’t bumped into yet, we suspect this is more about keeping up with the competition than truly driving innovation. It seems like if they were truly serious about really shipping a product, they’d work on the Cybertruck windshield wiper issue first.
And finally, as I’m sure you’re all conscious by now, our longtime manager Mike Szczys is moving on to greener pastures. I have to state the news came as a bit of shock to me, since I’ve helped Mike for over six years now. in that time, he has put me in the enviable setting of having a manager I really like, which has actually never occurred to me before. I just believed I’d take the possibility to state exactly how much I appreciate him rolling the dice on me back in 2015 as well as providing me a possibility to really compose for a living. Thanks, Mike, as well as finest of luck with the new gig!