brkirby
Brian Kirby
brkirby
Aerospace and automotive systems engineer. Curious human person. Believes strongly that an object at rest cannot be stopped.

Two updates made Mars 2020 more accurate than Mars Science Lab: 1) range trigger - Mars 2020 deployed its parachute based on estimated range to the landing site where as MSL did it as soon as the speed was slow enough to safely deploy the parachute. 2) The Lander Vision System and terrain relative navigation was new.

Oh yeah, I think I see you back there. It must be a crazy feeling knowing your hardware is on another planet and may help answer the question of if we’re alone in the universe. Congrats!  Read more

Sounds to me like there is a common denominator: poor systems engineering. Sounds like poor requirements, poor interface definitions, and/or an inadequate verification program. Read more

I love stories like this where you guys are asked or threatened by lawyers to not publish something, and not only do you go ahead and do it but publish another article about how they tried to stop you. These types of stories should be filed under the tag “Pity the fool”.
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So you’re telling me a car company paid someone to come to Germany to tare apart a seat to see how it works and it’s not a David Dissects? Fake News.
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Always a prototype? So what was the point of debuting the thing with the holes in the door? Seems like there’s a hole in this story and in Wrangler’s marketing strategy.
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I’m 100% jealous, but still disappointed this didn’t involve at least one of David Tracy’s rigs being crushed. I mean, do you guys even care a little about his sanity?
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Yikes. Here’s hoping they get some sense knocked into them soon. Read more

So now that Formula 1 has made this decision, what are the thoughts on the pictures of girls for Jalop’s COTD?
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Coke? What is this amateur hour? I thought everyone knew you need to run your car on a higher octane “fully loaded citrus soda” like Surge.
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I vote you write an article titled “Is it Time to Crush my $600 Jeep Cherokee with a Tank?” in hopes that a Jalop reader has a tank you can use to do this. Read more

It’ll be ok, DT. Numb the pain, take another hit:  Read more

I never wanted to go to Disney World, but now that I know they have a fleet of amphicars...
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Just crank the thing over with the head off. If you put your face really close to the cyinders, you should be able to see where the coolant and oil come through the cracks. ;)
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My favorite legend involved someone who was taking a different part every-other-day and assembling a car for free in his garage. I’m told he was fired, but if it was me, I’d have to ask myself if I’d want to fire him or if I’d rather keep someone around who had that much gumption and resourcefulness.
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Am I the only one less surprised by Sergio’s honesty than the fact that the office firewall didn’t block this article for its use of “dicks?”
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