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NASA investigating potentially 'catastrophic' Boeing spaceship error – Business Insider – Business Insider

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  • A NASA safety panel revealed on Thursday that it is investigating a potentially „catastrophic“ software error that occurred during a crucial test flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, a spaceship designed to carry astronauts.
  • NASA administrators said software errors were „only symptoms“ of deeper problems with Boeing’s coding and possibly the company’s overall culture.
  • Two journalists said Boeing downplayed or denied the software error when asked about it.
  • NASA is launching a broader investigation into Boeing’s software integration and verification processes.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

NASA is investigating a previously undisclosed software issue that arose during Boeing’s test flight of a spacecraft designed to shuttle astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

The Boeing spaceship, called the CST-100 Starliner, is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which asked private companies to develop new astronaut-ready spacecraft. Boeing and SpaceX came out on top in the competition, and the two companies are now racing to launch their first astronauts into space.

But during a crucial orbital flight test in December, a clock software error (it was set 11 hours ahead) led Boeing’s Starliner to initiate a phase of the mission it had not yet reached. That caused the spaceship to burn through 25% of its fuel, so Boeing had to skip docking with the space station – the primary goal of the mission – to save the Starliner from total failure.

Now, NASA has revealed a second software issue with the Starliner, which ground controllers had to fix in the middle of that test flight. In a call with reporters on Friday, Boeing and NASA officials said the error could have caused a collision between two units of the spacecraft: the crew module and the service module.

If Boeing hadn’t corrected the software error mid-flight, a collision could have sent the crew module tumbling or significantly damaged its protective heat shield. That might have led to „catastrophic spacecraft failure,“ Paul Hill, a member of NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, said at a meeting on Thursday, according to SpaceNews.

Before that meeting, neither NASA nor Boeing had publicly disclosed the error.

No astronauts were onboard for the test flight, but the error has prompted NASA to launch a larger investigation into Boeing’s coding and culture.

Symptoms of a deeper problem

Foto: A computer rendering of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spaceship jettisoning its service module before returning to Earth.sourceBoeing

Boeing said it found the second issue after the first error with the clock, since that prompted engineers to review the spaceship’s code while it was flying.

If they hadn’t caught the second error, it could have caused the wrong thrusters to fire just before the spacecraft re-entered Earth’s atmosphere. That’s the point when the crew module separates from the service module.

Boeing and NASA officials said that incorrect thruster-firing could have bounced the service module back toward the crew model, potentially causing a crash.

„Nothing good can come from those two spacecraft bumping,“ Jim Chilton, senior vice president of Boeing’s space program, said in the call.

Following the failure of Boeing’s test flight, NASA convened a team to examine the issues that occurred.

„They are likely only symptoms. They are not the real problem,“ Doug Loverro, a NASA associate administrator, said in the Friday call.

The heart of the problem, the NASA investigators found, is several coding defects that Boeing’s testing team didn’t catch before flight.

„We want to understand what the culture is at Boeing that may have led to that,“ Loverro said.

The team is still investigating some other intermittent issues that disrupted communications between the spacecraft and ground control as well.

„Software defects, particularly in complex spacecraft code, are not unexpected. However, there were numerous instances where the Boeing software quality processes either should have or could have uncovered the defects,“ NASA press officer Marie Lewis wrote in a blog post on Friday.

2 journalists say Boeing downplayed or denied the glitch

Foto: Astronauts train inside a mockup of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spaceship.sourceBoeing

Ars Technica reported that a source had tipped the publication off to the second Starliner software error in mid-January. But when reporter Eric Berger reached out to Boeing about it, he said, a company spokesperson „downplayed the gravity of the situation.“

„According to the source, Boeing patched a software code error just two hours before the vehicle reentered Earth’s atmosphere. Had the error not been caught, the source said, proper thrusters would not open during the reentry process, and the vehicle would have been lost,“ Berger wrote.

But the Boeing spokesperson, he said, told him that the software patch „had nothing to do with Crew Module reentry.“

Chris Gebhardt, of NASASpaceflight.com, said on Twitter that he’d faced a similar situation: Boeing and NASA had denied a second software issue altogether when he inquired.

NASA administrators on Friday defended themselves and Boeing for not discussing the second error while the investigation was ongoing.

„Had we had the discussion back then, we probably would’ve gotten it wrong. I think it’s not that we were not revealing something,“ Loverro said. „We didn’t want to speculate on that at the time.“

This failed orbital flight test was not the first time that Boeing has come under fire for a software glitch with catastrophic consequences. On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that the company uncovered yet another software error in its 737 Max airplanes, which have been grounded since March 2019. Software errors caused the plane to crash twice in five months, killing 346 people.

An ‚even broader‘ assessment of Boeing’s software practices

Foto: The state of construction for Boeing’s first CST-100 Starliner spaceship in March 2018.sourceBoeing

The NASA safety panel called for a broad assessment of how Boeing integrates, verifies, and tests its software.

„The panel has a larger concern with the rigor of Boeing’s verification processes,“ Hill said. „Further, with confidence at risk for a spacecraft that is intended to carry humans in space, the panel recommends an even broader Boeing assessment of, and corrective actions in, Boeing’s [systems engineering and integration] processes and verification testing.“

NASA appears to be following this recommendation.

Lewis said NASA has asked its independent investigation team to do „a more in-depth analysis as to why the anomalies occurred, including an analysis of whether the issues were indicative of weak internal software processes or failure in applying those processes.“

Citing „potential for systemic issues,“ panel chair Patricia Sanders said Thursday that the investigation will be similar to an internal safety review the agency did after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk smoked marijuana during a podcast recording.

Part of that investigation will involve reviewing all of the Starliner’s software, which is comprised of roughly 1 million lines of code, officials said.

„Our NASA oversight was insufficient. That’s obvious,“ Loverro said. „And I think that’s good learning for us.“

Boeing and NASA declined to say whether Starliner will re-do the orbital flight test. In an earnings report released January 29, Boeing included $410 million expense to cover a potential second uncrewed flight.

SpaceX’s orbital flight test, meanwhile, went smoothly. The company is expected to launch its first astronauts – probably the first people ever to fly commercial spacecraft, given likely delays for Boeing – in the coming months.

„The Commercial Crew program is broader than a single provider, and that’s intentional,“ NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said. „We have two providers, SpaceX and Boeing, that are going to take American astronauts to the International Space Station.“

Dave Mosher contributed reporting.

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Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

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2 days ago

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October 24, 2024

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LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

X

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

___

Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

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Google’s partnership with AI startup Anthropic faces a UK competition investigation

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2 days ago

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October 24, 2024

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LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.

The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.

“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”

San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.

Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”

“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.

The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Kuwait bans ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’ video game, likely over it featuring Saddam Hussein in 1990s

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3 days ago

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October 23, 2024

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The tiny Mideast nation of Kuwait has banned the release of the video game “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6,” which features the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and is set in part in the 1990s Gulf War.

Kuwait has not publicly acknowledged banning the game, which is a tentpole product for the Microsoft-owned developer Activision and is set to be released on Friday worldwide. However, it comes as Kuwait still wrestles with the aftermath of the invasion and as video game makers more broadly deal with addressing historical and cultural issues in their work.

The video game, a first-person shooter, follows CIA operators fighting at times in the United States and also in the Middle East. Game-play trailers for the game show burning oilfields, a painful reminder for Kuwaitis who saw Iraqis set fire to the fields, causing vast ecological and economic damage. Iraqi troops damaged or set fire to over 700 wells.

There also are images of Saddam and Iraq’s old three-star flag in the footage released by developers ahead of the game’s launch. The game’s multiplayer section, a popular feature of the series, includes what appears to be a desert shootout in Kuwait called Scud after the Soviet missiles Saddam fired in the war. Another is called Babylon, after the ancient city in Iraq.

Activision acknowledged in a statement that the game “has not been approved for release in Kuwait,” but did not elaborate.

“All pre-orders in Kuwait will be cancelled and refunded to the original point of purchase,” the company said. “We remain hopeful that local authorities will reconsider, and allow players in Kuwait to enjoy this all-new experience in the Black Ops series.”

Kuwait’s Media Ministry did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press over the decision.

“Call of Duty,” which first began in 2003 as a first-person shooter set in World War II, has expanded into an empire worth billions of dollars now owned by Microsoft. But it also has been controversial as its gameplay entered the realm of geopolitics. China and Russia both banned chapters in the franchise. In 2009, an entry in the gaming franchise allowed players to take part in a militant attack at a Russian airport, killing civilians.

But there have been other games recently that won praise for their handling of the Mideast. Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed: Mirage” published last year won praise for its portrayal of Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age in the 9th century.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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