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This is engineer speak for "we dropped it"


Also, possibly a misfire. The clamp is under spring tension that can approach 50,000 Newtons, and the separation mechanism can use explosive bolts.

Not sure which configuration this launch entails but the telescope itself weighs 6,500 kg, so that sounds like a lot of energy to account for.

Ariane 5 user's manual, PDF: https://www.arianespace.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Arian...


Something about a rocket having a user's manual makes me smile. Seems like a proper space agency name for this document would be much more space program sounding than just "user's manual". Even software programmers use terms like User Acceptance Training instead of just training. That one always makes me laugh too though, "You're going to learn to accept this software whether you like it or not."


I have never heard of User Acceptance Training. I have heard of User Acceptance Testing (UAT), which is about users testing the software, not training users on the software. The goal of UAT is to work with the user to verify that the software's functionality and usability are "acceptable". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceptance_testing#User_accept...


Training/Testing => potato/potahto

It's always agrressive against the users. The users are the poor saps that have to accept whatever the devs have droped on them. The users have no say other than suggest it doesn't work, doesn't promote efficient workflows, whatever. It's then up to the devs to fix, but they feel like they've delivered according to specs so tough. The User will Accept Whatever from the all powerful dev team. How about User Acceptability Testing. At least it then makes it sound like the devs are going to give a damn about the users feedback.


It's equally fun that the document title is "Microsoft Word - MUA5_5_1_INTRO.doc"


Is this a Word Autosave, or someone aactually hitting save but couldn't be bothered to actually name the doc? It's clearly Word generating the filename.

I think it just goes to show that nobody likes creating documentation.


It's a common theme with PDF printers -- their output filename by default is [program name] - [document title].pdf

But it's odd to see that on word documents themselves.


But it is Word that takes the firsr line of text to use as the filename, not the PDF writer. It could be a combo though. Word using the first line of text for the filename, then the PDF export appending the name of the app.

Either way, it's chuckles all the way down.


Wow! Are there manuals like that available publicly for SpaceX or ULA vehicles?


https://www.spacex.com/media/falcon-users-guide-2021-09.pdf

https://www.ulalaunch.com/docs/default-source/rockets/atlasv...

Though do note:

> This user’s guide is intended for pre-contract mission planning and for understanding SpaceX’s standard services. The user’s guide is not intended for detailed design use. Data for detailed design purposes will be exchanged directly between a SpaceX customer and a SpaceX mission manager.


It's good they're publishing these; I'll squirrel them away until the hardware comes up cheap on ebay.


oh like we're going to read the manual!

dozens if not hundreds of HNers begin poring thru the manual




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