Space Technology Repair By Chewbacca

Across the galaxy, Star Wars fans will be celebrating their beloved science fiction franchise on May 4th (May the fourth be with you). One of the most fascinating aspects about Star Wars is its space technology. As cool as lightsabers and blasters are, Star Wars tech can break down just like our modern space technology. Concerning technology repair, we think troubleshooting space tech in our day can be just as exciting as repairing space technology "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away."

Repairing Space Technology the Star Wars Way
The opening scene in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back takes place on the ice planet Hoth. Inside the rebel's Echo Base we find Han Solo and Chewbacca making repairs to their ship the Millennium Falcon (aka "the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy"). This famous ship was a decades-old modified light freighter that was in constant need of repair; primarily due to Solo's uncanny piloting ability which pushed the ship beyond its intended purposes ("This baby's got a few surprises left in her, sweetheart."). Reckless piloting maneuvers by Captain Solo included taking the ship into battle and evading Star Destroyers by navigating through asteroid fields.

While the Millennium Falcon was undergoing repairs to its central lifters in the main hangar of the Echo Base, we get a comical glimpse of Star Wars space technology repair at the expense of Han Solo and Chewbacca. Like a bickering married couple, they worked together by passing tools back and forth and barking commands over the ship's intercom. The stress of the repair job was enhanced by the Rebels fighting a losing battle outside the base.

Our heroes needed to get the lifters repaired before the base was overtaken so they could make their escape. With Princess Leia aboard, the last-minute repairs were finally completed at the exact same time Stormtroopers overtook the hanger. After Han heard the first stage of the engines successfully fire up, he gave Chewie a crooked smile and ordered the wookie to, "Punch it!" Thanks to a successful technology repair job, the crew escaped the clutches of the Empire and lived to fight another day.

Repairing Space Technology the NASA Way
Today, the crew of the International Space Station orbiting Earth may not be embroiled in galactic warfare (yet), but they can live to do science another day, thanks to a dramatic spacewalk by astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Steve Swanson that successfully repaired a critical piece of space technology. The 2.5 hour spacewalk took place on April 23rd and was undertaken to replace a faulty backup computer. Here is a video of the mission's highlights. Even though this video lacks lasers, space explosions, aliens, and romance, it nevertheless is pretty impressive.

The broken computer replaced on the ISS was a 10-year-old backup computer called a Multiplexer-Demultiplexer, or MDM. There are 45 MDM computers on the ISS, 21 of them located on the lab's exterior side. As described by Space.com, "The device is a backup computer for routing commands to systems supporting the space station's solar arrays, robotic arm rail car and other critical systems along the station's backbone-like main truss."

Business Technology Repair the XFER Way
First of all, we would have urged to support NASA's MDM remotely.

The lesson here for your business is to raise awareness about the importance of having a functioning data backup system in place. Technically, NASA could have put off the repair because it was "just a backup computer" and carried on with their science. Yet, NASA felt the need to make repairing the downed MDM backup unit a top priority. Whether you're doing science, doing business, or battling the Empire, if your mission-critical systems aren't backed up, then you're just one laser blast away from losing everything.

XFER can backup your company's entire network with our Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) solution. With BDR, your organization can live to fight another day in the event of a disaster--like your office being assaulted by Tie Fighters. With our remote IT services, we can quickly detect a problem with your technology and fix it as soon as possible, even it means putting on a space suit or working with a wookie. Call XFER today at 734-927-6666 / 800-GET-XFER to have the galaxy's best IT technicians backup and repair your company's technology, and May the 4th be with you!