Astronaut's Head Upgraded During Spacewalk (2009 April 01)

[apodman]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090401.html

For some reason, however, Astronaut Stefanyshyn-Piper can now factor 11 digit prime numbers in her head.

Who can't, and why couldn't she do it before the upgrade? Each prime number has only two factors, 1 and the number itself. Oh, it was a joke? I'm sorry for being such a nerd, but I never received the upgrade myself.

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With the HEAD 9000 attached, an astronaut can now directly access 4 Gigabytes of computer flash memory with their own brain, perform complex mathematics by "directed thinking", and play a pre-installed game of Tetris at no additional charge.

The fictional HEAD 9000 is based on the actual computer company IFBE, using the previous letter of the alphabet for each letter in the acronym. HAL would understand.

This is what happened when someone at IFBE.ca tried his own head upgrade. I'd stick to arrows and mental floss.

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Although it is often conjectured that the name HAL was based on a one letter shift from the name IBM, this has been denied by both Clarke and 2001 director Stanley Kubrick. In 2010: Odyssey Two, Clarke speaks through the character of Dr. Chandra, who characterized this idea as: "utter nonsense! ... I thought that by now every intelligent person knew that H-A-L is derived from Heuristic ALgorithmic".

Clarke more directly addressed this issue in his book The Lost Worlds of 2001:

"As is clearly stated in the novel (Chapter 16), HAL stands for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer. However, about once a week some character spots the fact that HAL is one letter ahead of IBM, and promptly assumes that Stanley and I were taking a crack at the estimable institution ... As it happened, IBM had given us a good deal of help, so we were quite embarrassed by this, and would have changed the name had we spotted the coincidence."

Also, IBM is indeed in the movie 2001, as are many other real companies. IBM is given fictional credit as being the manufacturer of the Pan Am Clipper's computer. The IBM logo can be seen in the center of the cockpit's instrument panel.

[StACase]

... IBM is indeed in the movie 2001, as are many other real companies. IBM is given fictional credit as being the manufacturer of the Pan Am Clipper's computer. The IBM logo can be seen in the center of the cockpit's instrument panel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdrqeAKNLM8

You tube is much too fuzzy to make it out, but take a look at the graphics on the screen just below the Logo. 2001 was made in the '60s, did they have CADCAM back then? I don't think so! The artists who came up with the cockpit display in that scene were clearly way ahead of their time.

[agarciamarin]

Hi to everybody,

concerningt the today APOD, Astronaut's Head Upgraded During Spacewalk, I wonder why I can not seen the stars in the picture. Are they so faint that they are in the under exposure zone of the camera detector?.

Regards,

Adolfo

[SRWithers]

Thank you for this very fun APOD and discussion comments! I laughed out loud at the joke and also enjoyed the great photo and real information in the midst of the text. Keep up the great work!

[agarciamarin]

Weel, maybe an explanation could be that the Earth is at the background but it is too much dark.

Any answer?

[bystander]

concerningt the today APOD, Astronaut's Head Upgraded During Spacewalk, I wonder why I can not seen the stars in the picture. Are they so faint that they are in the under exposure zone of the camera detector?.

Weel, maybe an explanation could be that the Earth is at the background but it is too much dark.

The foreground is too bright.

[Chris Peterson]

concerningt the today APOD, Astronaut's Head Upgraded During Spacewalk, I wonder why I can not seen the stars in the picture. Are they so faint that they are in the under exposure zone of the camera detector?

Stars are not significantly brighter in space than they are on the Earth. Just because the sky is black doesn't mean stars will be visible- they are still very faint compared to the foreground. Go out on a starry night and take a flash picture of something. It will look like this space image: nice bright objects in the foreground, a black sky, and no stars.

To capture stars, you need an exposure time of several seconds or longer. I'm sure this image was faster than 1/100 second, so stars are not recorded.

[aristarchusinexile]

Supercritic Me suggests this 'head' thing is just too lame for words as the photo is not in the least suggestive of the box replacing the astronaut's head. Until I figured out what the writer was talking about I thought the box was the 'head' as the head on a ship. Come on APOD .. you can do way better than this, and I just have to speculate pure exhaustion on the part of the people involved in putting the photos and text together is responsible. Exhaustion I can understand.

[MCutter]

Astronaut Stefanyshyn-Piper is not only listening to the stars but also plays some tunes for them with an ukulele ??

[BMAONE23]

Hi to everybody,

concerningt the today APOD, Astronaut's Head Upgraded During Spacewalk, I wonder why I can not seen the stars in the picture. Are they so faint that they are in the under exposure zone of the camera detector?.

Regards,

Adolfo

If you load the LARGE image, look at the straps hanging down from the crate. There are two straps on the (our) left side and two hanging on our right side. There is a visible star just below the strap nearest the astronaut on our left side in the image.

[StACase]

... I thought the box was the 'head' as the head on a ship ...

You are not alone.

[Toddzilla]

I wonder why I can not seen the stars in the picture.

Well, obviously because it's cloudy. Duh!

[BMAONE23]

Hi to everybody,

concerningt the today APOD, Astronaut's Head Upgraded During Spacewalk, I wonder why I can not seen the stars in the picture. Are they so faint that they are in the under exposure zone of the camera detector?.

Regards,

Adolfo

If you load the LARGE image, look at the straps hanging down from the crate. There are two straps on the (our) left side and two hanging on our right side. There is a visible star just below the strap nearest the astronaut on our left side in the image.

Here is the cropped image with enhanced contrast and brightness. Note the star is located just below the strap

[bystander]

Well, obviously because it's cloudy. Duh!

Not many clouds in low earth orbit.

[aristarchusinexile]

Well, obviously because it's cloudy. Duh!

Not many clouds in low earth orbit.

This site is so humorous at times.

[Annihilannic]

Astronaut Stefanyshyn-Piper is not only listening to the stars but also plays some tunes for them with an ukulele ??

I thought the very same (catching up with some old APODs)... or maybe another Guitar Hero fan?