Traveller-digest    Wednesday, October 20 1999    Volume 1999 : Number 1231



(R)1996. Traveller is a registered trademark of FarFuture Enterprises.
All rights reserved.

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re: Zot!
RE: New gamers, old gamers
RE: Zot!
RE: Ditzie's Warrant Followup
Re: Attention Gear Heads! New Toy!
RE: Cybernetic Implants / Tech
Re: Attention Gear Heads! New Toy!
Re: Space Opera?
Re: Space Opera?
RE: Zot!!
Cardboard Heroes & Glenn Grant
Re Traveller and the modern era
RE: Traveller Auction Update
RE: NZ LARPS
Re: Space Opera?
Re: Army missions
Re: Happy Birthday, Galileo!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 23:41:35 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: Zot!

In mail you write:

> Uhmm, machineguns didn't kill cavalry, the internal combusion engine
> did. Actually the MG had Llareggub effect on cavalry, the rise of repeating
> rifles had already pretty much made them obsolete on the battlefield. I
> actually think its not laser weapons that will killed manned aircraft but
> masers. Much more effective to microwave the pilot.

For the same power level, masers will be *way* larger than lasers. Due
solely to *wavelength* considerations. 

And microwaves are easier to deflect. 

- -- 
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 22:02:23 -0700
From: "Jesse DeGraff" <fenris@slip.net>
Subject: RE: New gamers, old gamers

"Done" as far as I'm concerned.  The next big ship I do (BL15 or bigger)
will have that name proudly on her bow.  Now, if whoever WRITES "Navy" or
whatever it's name is, and co-ordinates with me and any other illustrator
doing ships for it, we can do this up proper.

Hope Andy looks down and likes that one!

Very Best,
Jesse




> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> [mailto:owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com]On Behalf Of
> Sethkimmel@aol.com
> Sent: Monday, October 18, 1999 4:19 PM
> To: traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> Subject: Re: New gamers, old gamers
>
>
>
> In a message dated 10/18/99 3:08:10 PM, you wrote:
>
> <<Andy *would* reincarnate where he could play Traveller again as early as
> possible, right? :)>>
>
> I move that we lobby by Steve (GT) and Marc (T5) to name an
> Imperial capital
> ship (or maybe a starport or even a planet...) the "J. Andrew
> Keith" so the
> guy BECOMES canon. It's the least we can do...
>

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 22:32:28 -0700
From: "Jesse DeGraff" <fenris@slip.net>
Subject: RE: Zot!

ROFLMAOS!!!!!!!!!!!

Jesse





> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> [mailto:owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com]On Behalf Of Black ICE
> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 7:27 PM
> To: traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> Subject: Re: Zot!
> 
> 
> Andrew Moffatt-Vallance wrote:
> > 
> <<snip>>
> 
> > I actually think its not laser weapons that will killed manned 
> aircraft but
> > masers. Much more effective to microwave the pilot.
> 
> Given the nickname for US Air Force defense suppression aircraft ("Wild
> Weasels"), this give a whole new twist on "'Pop!' goes the weasel!"
> 
> 
> -- 
> AuricTech Shipyards Journeyman Gearhead
> "Gold-Plated [tm] solutions for copper-plated problems!" (r)
> http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/9776
> 

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 22:19:35 -0700
From: "Jesse DeGraff" <fenris@slip.net>
Subject: RE: Ditzie's Warrant Followup

Make sure "show graphics" is on in your browser.
Jesse




> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> [mailto:owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com]On Behalf Of Chris
> Seamans
> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 7:46 AM
> To: traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> Subject: Re: Ditzie's Warrant Followup
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Benyamene' ZeAbe' Akella <xrp@sierratel.com>
> To: traveller@lists.imagiconline.com <traveller@lists.imagiconline.com>
> Date: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 5:14 PM
> Subject: Re: Ditzie's Warrant Followup
> 
> 
> >I am I missing something? I find no images where either the "warrant" or
> >"credit3" are.
> 
> 
> I think you are. I just checked the links again myself, and both are in
> working order.
> 
> 

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 12:13:13 +0300
From: Antti Lahtinen <lahtinen@ee.tut.fi>
Subject: Re: Attention Gear Heads! New Toy!

>... Mini Microwave Thruster... 80 Watts of power... about 13,000 m/s.

	The "Microwave Thruster" appears to be a new kind of electro- 
	thermal thruster which generates very high temperature using 
	microwave plasma.

	Electro-thermal thrusters use external power to heat up 
	expellant material and eject the expellant as a high-velocity 
	jet.

	The thrust and mass flow can be calculated from the above 
	values:

	Exhaust velocity (v) = 13 000 m/s
	Input power (P) = 80 W
	Thrust (F) = 2P/v = 0.012308 = 12 mN
	Mass flow (mf) = 2P/v^2 = 9.46746E-07 kg/s = 0.947 mg/s
	Specific Impulse (ISP) = 9.81*F/mf = 127 530 s

	Using the same values, a large-scale thruster would be:

	Thrust: 1 kN
	Power: 6.5 MW
	Fuel consumption: 0.076923077 kg/s (277 kg/hr)
	Fuel type: suitable expellant material (helium, nitrogen, water, etc)

- -- 
      Antti Lahtinen                lahtinen@ee.tut.fi
      Researcher, MSc (Eng)         http://www.ee.tut.fi/~lahtinen

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 22:24:27 -0700
From: "Jesse DeGraff" <fenris@slip.net>
Subject: RE: Cybernetic Implants / Tech

Isn't this also akin to some of the concepts in Shirow's "Ghost In the
Shell" and your "ghost"?

If not, must be the beer talkin' ;)  >hick!<

Jesse




> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> [mailto:owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com]On Behalf Of Robert
> Eaglestone
> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 5:08 PM
> To: traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> Subject: Cybernetic Implants / Tech
>
>
> First, I'd say that biological engineering is going to be the preferred
> method of information processing 1000+ years hence.  Remember
> the "memory potto" anyone?  What book was that?  The Celestial
> Steam Locomotive?
>
> So forget your wristwatch computer.  Just buy a brain plug-in.
>
> Ok, here's a pseudo-psychobabble concept to bounce off all
> you tech-heads.  How about this: I once heard (eek!  unsubstantiated
> rumor!) that there is a little bit 'o gray matter in the
> fingertips... that
> is, your fingers do some data processing of their own... intelligent
> peripherals, in a really vague sense.
>
> Now, I also heard anecdotes -- not facts, mind you -- that folks
> who received transplants had personality side-effects that *seemed*
> to be related to the donor's personality... even though they didn't
> know the donor... oooh, a nice X-Files episode.
>
> Anyway, there is quite a lot of psychological attachment, if you please,
> about keeping one's body as intact as possible.  You lose a part of
> you when you lose a part of you.  Some philosophers think that the
> soul and the body are only barely related, while others think perhaps
> that the body affects the soul.
>
> This is all too vague for supporting a Traveller rule; however, a push
> in the right direction and you have psychological side-effects from
> transplants which can't be altered.  The side effects may be good or
> bad... just as physiological side-effects can be good or bad.
>
> ObTrav: David buys a brain enhancement, grown in the University
> of Rhylanor's Neural Vats Lab.  His ability to do spatial math
> calculations goes off the scales, but he also starts lighting fires "just
> to watch the flame burn"...  (advantage and disadvantage taken from
> GURPS).
>
> Just a thought.
>
> Rob
>
>
>

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 12:33:44 +0300
From: Antti Lahtinen <lahtinen@ee.tut.fi>
Subject: Re: Attention Gear Heads! New Toy!

	Damn. Instead of:

	> Specific Impulse (ISP) = 9.81*F/mf = 127 530 s

	I shoud have written:

	Specific Impulse (ISP) = F/(mf*9.81) = v/9.81 = 1325 s

	The ISP values for other thruster types are:

	Chemical                150-450 
	NTR (Nuclear Thermal)   825-925 
	ARCJET (Electrothermal) 800-1200 
	MPD (Electromagnetic)   2000-5000 
	ION (Electrostatic)     3500-10000

	The microwave thruster appears to be little better than arcjet.

- -- 
      Antti Lahtinen                lahtinen@ee.tut.fi
      Researcher, MSc (Eng)         http://www.ee.tut.fi/~lahtinen

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 02:33:02 -0700 (PDT)
From: "John R. Snead" <jsnead@netcom.com>
Subject: Re: Space Opera?

"David P. Summers" <summers@alum.mit.edu> wrote:

>I've realized that Space Opera doesn't have a very good definition.  To
>some it is highly cinematic, soft science (banking space fighters "Lensmen
>type") SF.  To other is simply means that you have things that don't exist
>in modern society (FTL Travel, psionics, etc.).  Whether Traveller is Space
>Opera depends on your definition.

I can't see that Traveller is anything but Space Opera.  Easy FTL travel,
psionics, antigravity, huge space battles, aliens who look like cat people
and dog people (and cool as they may be, Aslan are cat/lion people), &
vast interstellar empires are all traditional marks of Space Opera. 

Space Opera ranges from the wacky end like Star Wars & Lensman to more
realistic material like Trowbridge & Smith's Exordium quintology, but it
has a definite feel and definite conventions and Traveller is a typical
example of the more realistic end of space opera. 

With very few exceptions, *all* space-related RPGs are space opera. Hard
SF games don't sell terribly well (2300 & Blue Planet are the only major
examples around).  The only non-Space Opera SF games involving space
travel (as opposed to cyberpunk or other types of SF) are the newer space
anime genre, represented primarily by DP 9s excellent game "Jovian
Chronicles". 

Comments? 


- -John Snead jsnead@netcom.com

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 22:37:22 +1300
From: "Andrew Moffatt-Vallance" <a.vallance@netaccess.co.nz>
Subject: Re: Space Opera?

From:           	shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Date sent:      	Tue, 19 Oct 1999 23:48:09 PST

> In mail you write:

> Actually, the original definition was fairly clear. It included the
> Lensman series, the Skylark series, Campbell's later Arcot, Morey &
> Wade stories, etc.

> Basicly you had to have "grand sweep" (ie worrying about whole
> civilizations, not mere worlds), larger than life characters, and
> ususally escalating superweapon vs superweapon duels between the good
> guys and the bad guys. 
> 
> Star Wars is the only *modern* Space Opera I can think of. 

Star Trek DS9?
  Grand Sweep - Check
  Larger than life Characters - Check
  Escalating superweapon duels - Check
(actual, I'd call it Space Soap Opera, but thats just me)


Andrew etc
Homepage http://users.netaccess.co.nz/amv/
Traveller http://www.downport.com/amv/
 "What do you expect from a species who's females are
 always in heat" Ko of the Ilui clan on Humans and honour

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 22:11:52 -0700
From: "Jesse DeGraff" <fenris@slip.net>
Subject: RE: Zot!!

Ooooohhh, that's evil....



I LIKE it!!!!!

Jesse





> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> [mailto:owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com]On Behalf Of Walter Smith
> Sent: Monday, October 18, 1999 10:05 PM
> To: 'TML'
> Subject: re: Zot!!
> 
> 
> Douglas E. Berry wrote:
> >>>>>>>>
> http://www.airbornelaser.com/
> 
> Be sure to check out the Fun Stuff page, best response to critics 
> I've seen
> in a while.
> -- 
> >>>>>>>>
> Nice site. A civilian airliner with a spinal mount laser shoehorned into
> it.
> 
> I know they designed this thing for Theater Missile defense, but how
> long is it going to be before someone decides to try it out on an enemy 
> airplane? Or an enemy ground unit?
> 
> I wonder what it could do to a late-model russian-built fighter...
> 
> ObTrav: Of course, the standard "What could these tech level 7(8?)
> people possibly bother our Scout Ship with?" comment. ;-)
> 
> Walt Smith
> 

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 22:30:03 -0700
From: "Jesse DeGraff" <fenris@slip.net>
Subject: Cardboard Heroes & Glenn Grant

Crap, I'd really meant to change the title to refer to what I was saying.
Hate it when I do that!!!
Jesse


> I hereby nominate Glenn Grant to draw some NEW pictures for a new
> set of Traveller Cardboard Heroes!  Who's with me?
>
> :)
> Jesse
>
>
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> > [mailto:owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com]On Behalf Of
> > Sethkimmel@aol.com
> > Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 6:44 PM
> > To: traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> > Subject: Re: Traveller Auction Update
> >
> >
> > In a message dated 10/20/99 12:36:33 AM !!!First Boot!!!,
> > david.d.jaques-watson@centrelink.gov.au writes:
> >
> > << keith@sjgames.com is going for the Cardboard Heroes??!!!
> >
> >  Isn't that like sending coal to Newcastle?!!  ;-) >>
> >
> > Not necessarily. I spoke to Steve Jackson at the GAMA convention,
> > and he said
> > that they didn't include the Traveller cardboard heros with the
> > new release
> > because he wasn't happy with the artwork. This could be (and
> remember I'm
> > SPECULATING so don't take this as gospel truth or turn it into
> > rumor...) a
> > case of someone needing the old pictures (cause the warehouse has
> > no more of
> > them) to look at before they illustrate some new ones for a new release
> > (cross my fingers...:-) ).
> >

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 02:52:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: "John R. Snead" <jsnead@netcom.com>
Subject: Re Traveller and the modern era

"William F. Hostman" <aramis@gci.net> wrote:

<many excellent and IMHO true observations of Traveller snipped>

>Also, no one knows just how far current trends in technology will continue.
>Many existing technologies are still 10 years from common adoption; cost,
>social factors, and environmental issues prevent implementation in many
>cases (forex: Gallium Arsenide chips (environmental), <0.2 micron masking
>techniques for semiconductors (cost), RISC based computing in the WinTel
>world (social, due to the Microsoft near-monoply and not supporting moves
>to non-x86 architechtures, which are incremental evolutions of a 1970's
>base architechture)). Somehow, I doubt we'll actually hit vingean
>singularity before we have off-world populations.

You're a lot more optimistic about space settlements than I am. Given the
state of current technology, I'm betting on us really ramping up to the
singularity in the 2050-2060 range.  I'd be shocked if there were more
than (at most) 10,000 people living off-world then.  A more reasonable
estimate is likely to be between several dozen and several 100.  Our
electronic and biological tech is vastly outdistancing our rocketry tech. 
Direct neural interfaces are already in their early infancy (moving a
cursor by neural control & decoding a cat's visual signals), but we're
still using chemical rockets for 95% of space applications. 

With new electronic & biotech advances coming daily, and few changes in
space tech since the late 70s I'm betting the singularity comes a long
time before we seriously get into space. Then again, space travel sounds
like it would more fun for post-human beings.  I'm sure hoping I live to 
become some weird post-human thing :)

Of course, any breakthroughs on anti-gravity, fusion drives or other
cheap-n-easy ways to orbit will likely change my predictions dramatically. 


- -John Snead jsnead@netcom.com

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 22:28:42 -0700
From: "Jesse DeGraff" <fenris@slip.net>
Subject: RE: Traveller Auction Update

I hereby nominate Glenn Grant to draw some NEW pictures for a new set of
Traveller Cardboard Heroes!  Who's with me?

:)
Jesse





> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> [mailto:owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com]On Behalf Of
> Sethkimmel@aol.com
> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 6:44 PM
> To: traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> Subject: Re: Traveller Auction Update
>
>
> In a message dated 10/20/99 12:36:33 AM !!!First Boot!!!,
> david.d.jaques-watson@centrelink.gov.au writes:
>
> << keith@sjgames.com is going for the Cardboard Heroes??!!!
>
>  Isn't that like sending coal to Newcastle?!!  ;-) >>
>
> Not necessarily. I spoke to Steve Jackson at the GAMA convention,
> and he said
> that they didn't include the Traveller cardboard heros with the
> new release
> because he wasn't happy with the artwork. This could be (and remember I'm
> SPECULATING so don't take this as gospel truth or turn it into
> rumor...) a
> case of someone needing the old pictures (cause the warehouse has
> no more of
> them) to look at before they illustrate some new ones for a new release
> (cross my fingers...:-) ).
>

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 22:36:04 -0700
From: "Jesse DeGraff" <fenris@slip.net>
Subject: RE: NZ LARPS

ROFLMAO!!!!!  [Gasp!  Stop it already, you're killin' me!!!]

:D

Jesse



> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> [mailto:owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com]On Behalf Of
> dadams@parracity.nsw.gov.au
> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 7:39 PM
> To: traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> Subject: NZ LARPS
>
>
> >At the same time, the rise in LARPs has exposed RPGs to more people. This
> >very evening I will be attending a build-up/advertising event for a local
> >game based on the "Aliens" universe which will be covered by the local
> >media, and is held in a public building, literally just over the
> road from
> >the New Zealand parliment buildings.
>
> Bugger. You kiwi's have all the fun.
>
> >And what ever you do, avoid any planet entirely peopled by Australians.
> >While they are freindly sorts, will crack open a tinny for you on the
> >slightest pretext, and do great barbaques, after a few days your
> crew will
> >start talking like them, leading to uncontrollable outbursts of violence
> >from those who just can't stand the 'strine accent.
>
> You should have seen the sweat pour off may face, as I resisted
> the urge to make
> a NZ LARP joke, then you relieve me by writing the above patagraph.
>
> So : Hear Goes......
>
> Alien V : THE LARP
>
> After smashing into the pacific ocean at the end of Alien IV,
> Ripley's and the
> Alien dna are scraped off the hull and cloaned. Unfortunatly,
> they are cloaned
> in New Zealand, who never got past the sheep cloaning of the 20th
> Century, so
> now we have Alien Hybrid sheep running around NZ, and its the
> players job to
> capture it.
>
> Featuring the king of Gearheads : Peter Jackson! (with Fusion
> Lawnmower Man
> Portable)
> As well as The Best New Zealand Footbaler The South Sea Islands have ever
> produced : Jonah Lomu!
>
> Gasp as the killer alien sheep consume the population! (exciting the male
> population in the process!). Drool in fright as New Zealand is
> turned into a
> dark desolate wasteland (um it's that allready), and watch Sam
> Neil and Caine
> the wonder dog save the day!
>
> Darryl
>
>
> Darryl
>
>
>
>
>

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 03:24:50 -0700
From: "Legate Legion" <legate@futureone.com>
Subject: Re: Space Opera?

From: Andrew Moffatt-Vallance <a.vallance@netaccess.co.nz>
Subject: Re: Space Opera?


From:           shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Date sent:      Tue, 19 Oct 1999 23:48:09 PST

> In mail you write:

> Actually, the original definition was fairly clear. It included the
> Lensman series, the Skylark series, Campbell's later Arcot, Morey &
> Wade stories, etc.

> Basicly you had to have "grand sweep" (ie worrying about whole
> civilizations, not mere worlds), larger than life characters, and
> ususally escalating superweapon vs superweapon duels between the good
> guys and the bad guys.
>
> Star Wars is the only *modern* Space Opera I can think of.

Star Trek DS9?
  Grand Sweep - Check
  Larger than life Characters - Check
  Escalating superweapon duels - Check
(actual, I'd call it Space Soap Opera, but thats just me)


*  *  *

Babylon 5?
    Grand Sweep:  Check.
    Larger than Life Character:  Check.
    Super Weapons:  Check
    Super Powers:  Check
    Bringing People back from Death:  Check

Legate Legion
ICQ # 8973001
legate@futureone.com

"A man may fight for many things; his country, his principles, his friends,
the glistening tear on the cheek of a golden child. But personally, I'd
mudwrestle my own mother for a ton of cash, an amusing clock, and a stack of
French porn." - Edmund Blackadder

"I am a Ranger. We live for the One, we die for the One. We go to the dark
places where no one else dares venture! We stand on the bridge and no one
passes. Entil'zha Veni!"

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 20:50:11 +1000
From: "Alan Bradley" <alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au>
Subject: Re: Army missions

> From: Craig Berry 
> The UN intervention in Timor was instructive in this regard.  The Ghurkas
> were among the first units on the ground, and their initial mission was
> purely tactical (securing the airfield and embassy).  Very quickly,
> though, they transitioned into serving as more of a psychological than a
> physical force; even with less than 200 of them on the scene, there was
> apparently a wide (and prudent) unwillingness among would-be bad guys to
> continue misbehaving with even the threat of going up against such
> legendarily effective troops.  The Ghurkas, being at the pinnacle of
> professionalism and training, served admirably in both roles (they were
> widely complimented on their friendliness and helpfulness to civilians
and
> Indonesian troops, for example).  Less seasoned and confident troops may
> fair far less well in similar situations.

Training and experience are, of course, good things - and of course that's
the real advantage of the long service regular army.  

East Timor is a good reminder of what the Australian and New Zealand armies
are:  cadre forces.  Unlike the US, neither of these armies are really
meant to engage in large scale combat without either allies, or, more
importantly for Traveller purposes, a period of mobilisation - that is,
expansion to a much greater size.

This is relevant to the original point of "small, regular" armies - the
Australian and NZ forces aren't "really" meant to be such, but rather are
intended to be a nucleus for a (slightly) larger, short service force,
whether mobilised reservists, newly enlisted volunteers, conscripts, or a
mixture.  In fact, in World War II, Australia used a mixture.  In Korea,
there seems to have been a specially recruited volunteer force - a
temporary expansion of the regular forces, and in Vietnam, conscripts were
used.  Apparently, at least some Reservists are being *asked* to go on
full-time to help with the manpower problems associated with the tiny East
Timor deployment.

Of course, the regular cadre force can, and does, deal with small
deployments, which is primarily what the Australian forces have been doing
in recent decades, so the cadre form is actually the normal one in which
such an army will exist.

OBTRAV:  Mobilisation strategies seem to be very important in shaping
military organisations.  

The Imperium has to maintain a relatively large standing military force,
and, in fact is fairly permanently at war along the Vargr frontier, among
other places.  At the same time, it clearly doesn't usually need the huge
forces it requires in something like a Frontier War.   Further, it contains
subordinate governments, that control their own military forces.

This, of course, results in the canonical use of Colonial forces, as well
as such practices as mobilising former scouts, and the temporary absorption
of scout service assets into the Navy.

Anyway, Doug, and whoever does the Navy book, will need to look at the
differences between peacetime and wartime establishments, and the
mobilisation (and demobilisation!) strategies used to change between the
two.

Alan Bradley
alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 07:39:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Conley <estar@toolcity.net>
Subject: Re: Happy Birthday, Galileo!

On Tue, 19 Oct 1999, Leonard Erickson wrote:

> There's a *reason* the processor is so dumb. There was exactly *one*
> attempt to use a "modern" CPU in a satellite. One of the OSCAR
> satellites (satellites built by and for amateur radio operators). 
> 
> It was a disaster. In spite of their best efforts to shield it,
> radiation was flipping bits in the CPU often enough to make it useless
> much of the time. And waht "modern" chip was this? An 8086. 
> 
> I'm not sure what the latest "space rated" CPU is, but at that time it
> was the RCA 1802 (same chip used in the *ancient* "ELF" computer
> training kits from the 70s).

Maybe this is how you can handwave those big hulking Classic Traveller
Computers

------------------------------

End of Traveller-digest V1999 #1231
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