Editing 2876: Range Safety
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[[Randall]] continues on by imagining the opposite position, a "Range Danger Officer," responsible for ensuring that the flight of the vehicle is dangerous. Flying into the biggest thunderstorm may qualify as dangerous - in 1987 an ATLAS rocket launched into thunderstorm conditions by NASA was destroyed by lightning strikes that caused electrical malfunction. | [[Randall]] continues on by imagining the opposite position, a "Range Danger Officer," responsible for ensuring that the flight of the vehicle is dangerous. Flying into the biggest thunderstorm may qualify as dangerous - in 1987 an ATLAS rocket launched into thunderstorm conditions by NASA was destroyed by lightning strikes that caused electrical malfunction. | ||
| − | Finally, someone on the staff justifiably | + | Finally, someone on the staff justifiably wonders what reason there is for that position to exist. |
The title text imagines a Range Mischief Officer, responsible for mischief – generally defined as minor/playful annoyance. Introducing a random unknown spin may qualify, since the spin shouldn't affect the flight too much, but would make all the flight engineers nervous about the flight as they seek to understand why telemetry is inverted (or why it is not!), as they work out the cause and whether it is symptomatic of bigger underlying issues or just a technical change of reference to an otherwise correct flight trajectory. Whether the spin is purely axial or end-over-end would probably matter greatly! | The title text imagines a Range Mischief Officer, responsible for mischief – generally defined as minor/playful annoyance. Introducing a random unknown spin may qualify, since the spin shouldn't affect the flight too much, but would make all the flight engineers nervous about the flight as they seek to understand why telemetry is inverted (or why it is not!), as they work out the cause and whether it is symptomatic of bigger underlying issues or just a technical change of reference to an otherwise correct flight trajectory. Whether the spin is purely axial or end-over-end would probably matter greatly! | ||
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The Range Danger Officer and Range Mischief Officer both sound like suitable positions for [[Black Hat]], xkcd's resident [[classhole]]. | The Range Danger Officer and Range Mischief Officer both sound like suitable positions for [[Black Hat]], xkcd's resident [[classhole]]. | ||
| − | This is the second holiday season comic in 3 years to depict rocket safety officers. A Range Safety Officer was also mentioned in the title text of [[2559: December 25th Launch]], where the RSO shoots down Santa so he cannot interfere with the rocket launch. | + | This is the second holiday season comic in 3 years to depict rocket safety officers. A Range Safety Officer was also mentioned in the title text of [[2559: December 25th Launch]], where the RSO shoots down Santa so he cannot interfere with the rocket launch. |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
