
Write code, fix the space station, win $10,000 - zalzane
http://hackaday.com/2013/01/19/write-code-fix-the-space-station-win-10000/
======
progn
Optimization problems like that are fascinating. We can treat them generically
without having to teach our program about the specific problem it's trying to
solve. All we have to do is come up with proposed solutions and pare them
down.

For starters, we need a "cost function" so we can see which solutions are
better than others. That's the easy part: render the model on 3D hardware,
lighting it with a distant point light source. The "cost" (the value we're
trying to minimize) is 1 - Σ(face_brightness); modern hardware can easily
handle precise geometric shadowing using a stencil buffer or similar well-
known technique. Handle the thermal constraints by setting the "cost" to 1
when the space station disintegrates.

Now we just need to find some ways of coming up with proposed solutions and
pruning all but the best solutions. This problem has path dependencies, so we
can't just apply a greedy algorithm. That is, solar panel actuators take time
to move, so the best solution for time [T_1, T_3] isn't necessarily the
concatenations of the best individual solutions for intervals [T_1, T_2] and
[T2, T_3].

What you're left with is actually a graph search problem, where our graph
nodes are actuator inputs at specific (quantized) times; I feel like something
like the veneralbe A* algorihm would be a good place to start looking for
paths through this graph.

~~~
jufo
A good solution should also minimise movement, to conserve energy and reduce
mechanical wear. And part of the orbit is in darkness - the criteria would be
different there (not optimising illumination, but needing to be ready for the
return to daylight).

------
jtchang
So many trash comments on the site about how NASA should be "offering more
money" or how this is a way for them to "save money" and it is all a scam.

Seriously? Any decent hacker attempting this is probably doing it for props.
The money is great and provides a good monetary incentive but when it comes
down to it I'd wager people would do this for free. Hell a personal tour of
NASA and maybe their name in the code might but just as good.

~~~
millerc
I'd like to propose a different perspective into this.

In a respectable aerospace organization, a typical effort into such an
optimization project would be in the order of 3 mid-to-senior staff, for a
duration of 6 months. Consider a loaded rate of $200k/year (remember, overhead
makes it much more expensive), and you'll be looking at about $300k for a
single tentative. Let's suppose they probably tried no more than 3 to 5
approaches already, that's $1.5M of taxpayer's money they already put on that.
And they still can't figure out a way to keep a good configuration of shadows
on the longerons when they push it for a little more power.

If I came up with an optimal solution to this problem, I'd be miffed to be let
go with $10k (or $30k as they seem to have updated) and a nicely worded
letter. I would hope my carreer to be guaranteed✝ for a few years, instead of
being thrown back on my own into the void.

\--

✝ No, the letter is not a guarantee of employment elsewhere. If anything, it
might very well scare off "normal" employers from hiring a prospect.

~~~
icegreentea
More or less true, but remember that even submitting the winning submission
does not carry the same weight of responsibility or liability that it would
normally carry at an engineering firm. Your submission doesn't even have to
come close to providing an optimal, or even safe solution, and that won't hurt
you (beyond not winning) one bit. Validation and testing will no doubt be done
by actual fully paid NASA (or whatever space agency) employees, at their usual
rates.

~~~
sliverstorm
"Crowdsourcing is not a panacea"

\- sliverstorm

------
kevinconroy
If this is legit, then this is incredibly cool. Having your code run in space
is as close as many of us will come to being in space ourselves.

Sure, 10K is small given that it's the ISS, but let's be honest, the money is
the secondary prize. This is for bragging rights.

~~~
rtpg
>Sure, 10K is small given that it's the ISS

slightly unrelated but fun fact: the ISS is the most expensive thing ever
built[1](sorry for the silly source, couldn't find the original list).

[1]([http://www.filmitown.com/forums/general-chit-
chat/37819-top-...](http://www.filmitown.com/forums/general-chit-
chat/37819-top-10-most-expensive-projects-world.html))

~~~
bostonpete
It seems a bit absurd that the Panama canal isn't on that list given that it
cost around $15 billion in present day dollars. And that's with 25,000+ people
dying in the process. I can only imagine what the cost would have been if they
had take the precautions necessary to prevent most of those deaths.

~~~
throwaway2048
they actually did take a great deal of precautions in the later American
phase, like draining swamps and chemical agents to control mosquito
populations. Mosquito born illness was a major factor that sunk the earlier
french attempt.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_measures_during_the_con...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_measures_during_the_construction_of_the_Panama_Canal)

------
Xcelerate
I always get kind of depressed with these contests and never enter them,
because although I feel that I could come up with a solution, I also think
there's probably thousands of other people out there working on the challenge
and doing it even better than me.

So I never start.

------
sasanrose
What harm can possibly a person from Iran do to this project, or US, or us
citizens or other people from the world, by contributing to this project or
other ones on TopCoder?! Ok I understand that you can not sell things to us,
because you think that we may misuse them for terrorism (Although real
terrorists - not the people - can find what they want easily) but seriously
what does contributing to an International project can do anything with
politics?

------
tantalor
Don't forget Jonathan James was convicted at 16 for copying the space station
source code from DoD computers. He later killed himself.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_James>

~~~
brodney
This is such a stupid comment. He didn't just copy the source code, he was
sniffing all communications to the team developing for NASA. He killed himself
for a completely different hacking incident almost a decade later.

What exactly was your point?

------
hakaaaaak
From the official rules: "The tester will be eligible for the final prizes
based on his initial submission, but not the tester is eligible for the
milestone prizes."

[http://community.topcoder.com/tc?module=MatchRules&rd=15...](http://community.topcoder.com/tc?module=MatchRules&rd=15520)

Was legal outsourced to an eastern european firm, or was this written by an
advanced AI?

Also, the bullets look to have an encoding problem.

------
rwitoff
In practice this is an interesting problem for ISS. Considering the varying
contingent of shadow-casting (and reflecting!) payloads, orbital replacement
units, visiting vehicles and robotic elements the station's geometry is
constantly changing. Then we have to consider system and lifespan effects.
Solar array orientation alters the corresponding equilibrium attitude of the
station and thereby the need for gyro and thrust stabilization. Along with
problems we've had with overuse of the solar array rotary joints, there is a
lot to consider after and optimal array orientation is found. Space is
expensive.

------
maurits
A bit more accurate title would be "Be A US citizen, write code, fix the not
so international space station, win $10,000".

~~~
krisoft
Could you cite where it states that you have to be a US citizen? I can't see
any restriction apart from the usual ones on Quebec and the axis-of-evil
countries.

It's entirely possible that I'm looking at the wrong place, that's why I'm
asking.

~~~
uvdiv
What's the restriction on Quebec?

~~~
krisoft
From the official rules and regulations: "A Competitor is not eligible for
this Competition if he/she is a resident of the Quebec province of Canada,
[...]"

Quebeck is apparently excluded because of legal reasons. More details:
[http://business.financialpost.com/2011/09/08/why-many-
contes...](http://business.financialpost.com/2011/09/08/why-many-contests-
exclude-quebec-residents/)

------
rwitoff
Since this is the first request for collaboration with NASA we've seen on HN,
are there other obvious problems you'd like to independently analyze with us?
ISS? Rovers? Navigation? Deep Space Networking? (etc)

~~~
elcron
NASA does have a number of contests. A number of the big ones are called the
Centennial Challenges
([http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/stp/centennial_challenges/in...](http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/stp/centennial_challenges/index.html))
These currently include:

    
    
      - Sample Return Robot ($1.5 Million)
      - Night Rover ($1.5 Million)
      - UAS Airspace Operations Challenge (AOC) ($Half a Million)
    

They've also done other competitions, such as robo-ops for college students
([http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/releases/2011/11-08...](http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/releases/2011/11-089.html))
(<https://www.wpi.edu/news/20112/rascalrob.html>)

------
eaglemoon2013
Don't forget the prize of having something flown on a space shuttle mission!
No one but NASA can offer that.

------
ginko
I have yet to find a dataset of the ISS's geometry on the topcoder site.

Do you only get that when registering?

~~~
itsuart
Yes. And you are prohibited to disclose (and that sucks): >This problem
statement is the exclusive and proprietary property of TopCoder, Inc. Any
unauthorized use or reproduction of this information without the prior written
consent of TopCoder, Inc. is strictly prohibited.

------
Kim_Bruning
Is it just me, or is the complete problem spec not immediately visible?
(without -perhaps- signing up?)

------
TomGullen
Seems like a good problem (albeit a little complicated) for a genetic
algorithm

------
huhsamovar
Sigh.

This Competition is open to all members of the TopCoder website, who have
agreed to the terms thereof, and who are at least 18 years of age. Competitors
must be:

(i) a U.S. citizen, (ii) a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., (iii) a
temporary resident, asylee, refugee of the U.S., or have a lawfully issued
work authorization card permitting unrestricted employment in the U.S., or
(iv) a non-U.S. resident authorized in the country in which the member resides
while participating in this Competition to perform services as an independent
contractor.

Oh well.

~~~
gyom
I hear you. As a Quebec resident, I've been getting screwed all my life by
these restrictions on contests. I don't even know why we're listed there
alongside Kim Jong-il, Ahmadinejad and Castro. There's probably some law
somewhere that the government of Quebec voted, but I don't know what it is.

"A Competitor is not eligible for this Competition if he/she is a resident of
the Quebec province of Canada, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Sudan or Syria."

~~~
wlesieutre
[http://contests.about.com/od/sweepstakes101/f/VoidinQuebec.h...](http://contests.about.com/od/sweepstakes101/f/VoidinQuebec.htm)
summarizes it pretty well. The contest laws there make it a lot more work (and
more expensive). Especially for sweepstakes where they're just randomly giving
away free stuff (rather than competitions like this), it makes more sense to
just exclude it instead of dealing with their laws.

~~~
gyom
Thanks a lot for the reference !

------
alex_t
i found almost offensive that they offer just 10k for such a task

~~~
forrestkyle
This contest is not meant for Ferengi such as yourself, but the noble hackers
of the Federation. And Vulcans.

~~~
3327
I believe this wraps it up, lets move along now...

