Xbox 360

Microsoft placed kiosks for demonstration in some stores and the error began appearing. In general future designers look to less complex, more reliable launch systems with lower maintenance costs. It was discovered in Wal-Mart stores days before the official console launch. Nixon in 1971 [4], the operational costs, flight rate, payload capacity, and reliability have been worse than anticipated. The Xbox 360 screen of death is an error screen displayed by the Xbox 360 game console. While it was developed within the original development cost and time estimates given to President Richard M. [41]. Opinions differ on the lessons of the Shuttle.

On January 26, 2006, Microsoft released Q2 2006 earning report, stating the Xbox 360 has reached 1.5 million units in 2005, 0.9 million units in North America, 0.5 million units in Europe, and 0.1 million units in Japan. Advances in technology over the last decade have made probes smaller and lighter, and as a result unmanned probes and communications satellites can use relatively cheap and reliable expendable rockets, including Delta launcher, and Atlas V. Purchased separately, the price of the items would be AU$209.95. The Shuttle's history of unexpected delays also makes it liable to miss the narrow launch windows. To compensate for the Late Xbox 360 release to Australia and New Zealand, Microsoft released a VIP pack priced AU$149.95, containing the items below. Following the Challenger disaster, carrying in the shuttle payload bay the powerful liquid fueled Centaur upper stages planed for interplanetary probes was ruled out. The Xbox 360 is scheduled to be released in Australia and New Zealand on March 23, 2006, delayed for 3 weeks from the original March 2 launch date. NASA's plan for using the shuttle to launch all unmanned payloads declined, then was discontinued.

In Hong Kong, there are promotions include: free PGR3 faceplate with purchase of selected titles, DOA4 collectibles with purchase of a extra game, and reduced price when purchased with cross-promotional items. No other launch vehicle had the shuttle's payload capability or could return large items from the space station to earth. The launch date for Hong Kong and Singapore is March 16, 2006, delayed from original March 2 launch date. Even though the initially planned Space Station Freedom was signficantly scaled back, the shuttle was still vital to service it. Promotions include one free limited edition PGR3 faceplate bundled for the initial shipment, and a gamepad-game combo pack containing Kameo and a wireless gamepad. During development, shuttle features were primarily chosen based on capability required to service the future space station. It will be released in Taiwan on March 2, 2006. The result is high labor cost, with around 25,000 workers in Shuttle operations and labor costs of about $1 billon per year.

The Xbox 360 is scheduled to be released in South Korea on February 24, 2006. Furthermore, because in some cases there are no survivable abort modes, many pieces of hardware simply must function perfectly and so must be carefully inspected before each flight. In Mexico retailers such as the Liverpool, CompuDabo, Game Planet, gdGames, Cyberbox, and Camelot Games have started selling the console, games, and accessories. Because loss of crew is unacceptable, the primary focus of the Shuttle program is to return the crew to Earth safely, which can conflict with other goals, namely to launch payloads cheaply. The Xbox 360 was released in Mexico and Colombia on February 2, 2006. Instead, this turnaround process usually takes months, however once Columbia was launched twice within 56 days. Sony has a substantial amount of Japanese third party developers. After landing, the orbiter would be checked out and start "mating" to the rest of the system (the ET and SRBs), and be ready for launch in as little as two weeks.

Recent surveys in Japan have confirmed that the majority of Japanese 'gamers' are strong supporters of Sony. The Shuttle was originally conceived to operate somewhat like an airliner. On the day of the launch, Capcom unveiled their Xbox 360-exclusive sci-fi game Lost Planet, which features South Korean actor Lee Byung Hun in the lead role. Some reasons for higher than expected operational costs can be ascribed to:. On December 17, Rakuten's website announced a special five-day sale starting on December 22 selling 10 Xbox 360s at 24,900 yen.[40]. Another way to calculate launch cost is the incremental expense of adding a single additional shuttle mission, which is is about $100 million. To entice people into buying the Xbox 360 some retailers are offering discounts on the system if they sign up for a 2 year broadband contract, similar to cell phone deals in the US. Some of this can be attributed to operating beyond the 10-year anticipated lifespan of each Shuttle, and higher than anticipated maintenance costs.

Maruyama is widely credited for attracting support from Japanese game developers. This has been much more expensive than anticipated. Microsoft Japan executive Yoshihiro Maruyama stated that he expects sales of Xbox 360 in Japan to hit one million units sometime next year. This includes all related costs such as maintenance, ground facilities, training, etc., and divides that figure by the number of shuttle flights. It should be noted that this number is roughly equal to the number of Xbox units sold in Japan by November of 2005. There are various ways to calculate costs -- the $500 million figure inclues all operational details of maintaining and servicing the Shuttle fleet. Namco expects to sell 500,000 copies of Ridge Racer 6 in Japan. Per launch costs are roughly $500 million today.

Initial predictions were highly optimistic as the highest rating launch game reviewed by Famitsu, Namco's Ridge Racer 6, scored 35 out of 40 stars. However, this does not fully explain the high shuttle operational costs. Matsui predicts however that the Xbox 360 will likely gain momentum coming into January 2006 when new titles come out which includes Ninety-Nine Nights. Nixon in 1971 [3]. The 2-day 62,135 sales figure of the Xbox 360 is a little past half of the 123,334 units of the old Xbox that Microsoft sold in the first 3 days in Japan in February 2002. In fact when discounting inflation, the shuttle development program was within the initial cost estimate given to President Richard M. He even added information that over 60% of his readers had planned to buy the much anticipated Tecmo fighting game which is set for a December 29 release. When evaluating shuttle development costs in later-year dollars, this superficially appeared to be a large cost overrun in the program.

For his part, Famitsu Xbox 360 editor-in-chief Munetatsu Matsui pointed to DOA4's absence as the main factor behind the slow start. Between when the program began in 1972, and first flight in 1982, inflation increased prices over 200%. Others have also attributed this slow start to titles such as Dead or Alive 4 and Enchant Arm missing the launch date while others point to the marketing strategy that focused on selling the Xbox 360 as a fashionable item when customers were looking for an affordable or a high performance gaming console. suffered from severe inflation. Some believe this is mainly due to the other popular and prospective video game handheld consoles like the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation Portable, all of which have sold far more than the Xbox 360. During the 1970s the U.S. [38][39]. One reason behind this apparent failure is inflation.

While other regions such as the United States or Europe enjoyed successful launches, sales in Japan have trailed the other regions, totalling 100,000 by the end of 2005. Although the final design differs from the original concept, the project was still supposed to meet USAF goals and be much cheaper to fly in general. [37]. Although it did operate as the world's first reusable crew-carrying spacecraft, it did not improve on those parameters in any meaningful way, and is considered by some to have failed in its original purpose. Three North American titles (Ridge Racer 6, NBA 2K6, and NHL 2K6) were not available for the Europe launch. It was intended to improve greatly on the previous generation of single-use manned and unmanned vehicles. [36]. The original mission of the Shuttle was to operate at a high flight rate, at low cost, and with high reliability.

A total of 15 games were available for launch, including critical hits Call of Duty 2, Project Gotham Racing 3 and Perfect Dark Zero. [2]. [34][35]. NASA's budget for 2005 allocates 30%, or $5 billion, to Space Shuttle operations. [33] By the end of 2005, Microsoft sold 500,000 consoles in the region. The total cost of the program has been $145 billion as of early 2005 ($112 billion of which was incurred while the program was operational) and is estimated at $174 billion when the Shuttle retires in 2010. [32] In turn, some retailers blamed Microsoft for failing to provide enough consoles in the Christmas period. While the Shuttle has been a reasonably successful launch vehicle, it has been unable to meet its goal of radically reducing flight launch costs, as the average launch expenditures during its operations up to 2005 accumulates to $1.3 billion [1], a rather large figure compared to the initial projections of $10 to $20 million.

[31] The shortages led to some consumers criticising retailers, and others attacking Microsoft itself for failing to fill demand. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board called this tendency the "normalization of deviance" -- a gradual acceptance of abnormal events simply because they haven't been catastrophic to date. [30] As in North America, thousands of Xbox 360 appeared on auction websites like eBay, selling for more than twice their retail price. Over time NASA managers gradually accepted more tile damage, similar to how O-ring damage was accepted. Microsoft confirmed that 300,000 units were available for the European launch. The original shuttle operational specification said the orbiter thermal protection tiles were designed to withstand virtually no debris hits at all. [27], and Microsoft has revised their initial 90 day estimate down to 2.5 million units, though their 6 month sales estimate remains unchanged at 4.5 to 5.5 million consoles.[28][29]. The foam had not been designed or expected to break off, but had been observed in the past to do so without incident.

Analysts believe Microsoft will not meet the original worldwide target of 2.75-3 million units sold in the first 90 days after launch. Columbia failed because of damaged thermal protection from foam debris that broke off the external tank during ascent. [25][26]. Challenger's O-ring eroded completely through, with fatal results. By the end of 2005, Microsoft sold roughly 900,000 units. Unfortunately NASA and Thiokol senior managers overruled him and allowed the launch to proceed. [24] In Canada, all 32,100 units available for launch were sold. He raised concerns that the unusually cold temperatures would stiffen the O-rings, preventing a complete seal.

According to the NDP Group, North American sales totaled 326,000 units in November. Morton Thiokol designed and manufactured the SRBs, and during a pre-launch conference call with NASA, the Thiokol engineer most experienced with the O-rings pleaded repeatedly to cancel or reschedule the launch. As of January 26, 2006 at 4:59 EST, major online retailers are sold-out of both Xbox 360 packages (including Amazon.com, circuitcity.com and buy.com). Instead of finding out why, managers felt because it had not previously eroded by more than 30%, that this was not a hazard as there was "a factor of three safety margin". It was reported [23] that 40,000 units appeared on eBay during the initial month of release, which would mean that 10% of the total supply was resold. In the case of Challenger, an O-ring which should not have eroded at all did, in fact, erode on earlier shuttle launches. eBay in particular was a popular location for such offers with thousands of consoles going up for auction, some selling for many times the original retail price. In both cases a mind set among senior managers developed that concerns had to be objectively proven rather than simply suspected.

The high demand for the Xbox 360 led to some owners almost immediately re-selling their console for vastly inflated prices. A heavily layered, procedure-oriented bureaucratic structure inhibited necessary communication and action. Microsoft has stated that they will look into the reports and have offered assistance reachable by phone. In both cases the vehicle gave ample warning beforehand of abnormal problems. Microsoft claims that these problems are to be expected on a large scale release for a console and the number of reports versus the number of consoles released was very minimal. In both cases, junior engineers were greatly concerned about possible problems, but these concerns were not properly communicated to or understood by senior NASA managers. [22] The manual contains warnings about not placing the Xbox 360 on soft surfaces or in enclosed spaces to avoid heating problems. In both cases events happened which were not planned for or anticipated.

Some reported the Xbox 360 crashing with errors, some reported the hard drive does not respond in certain situations while others report error messages during various games or unusually fast overheating. While the technical details of the accidents are quite different, the organizational problems show remarkable similarities. Immediately after the launch, reports about the new machine's technical glitches started coming out. This gives a 2% death rate per astronaut per flight. [21]. Two Shuttles have been destroyed in 114 missions, both with the loss of the entire crew of seven:. Peter Moore, Microsoft corporate vice president, predicts that shipments will reach 10 million units worldwide by the end of 2006. † Satellites deployed
* This was flight STS-80, during November 1996.

This allowed them to launch several months earlier than would otherwise be possible, but also led to shortages. Whilst all three Orbiters are externally very similar, they have minor internal differences; new equipment is fitted on a rotating basis as they are maintained, and the newer Orbiters tend to be structurally lighter. They did not, however, build up a sufficient supply of consoles to satisfy the entire demand at launch. Individual Orbiters are both named, in a manner similar to ships, and numbered, using the NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation system. they did not withhold produced consoles). After landing the vehicle stands on the runway to permit the poisonous hydrazine fumes used for part of the attitude control during descent to dissipate. Evidence indicates that Microsoft launched with all consoles available at the time, and operating at maximum production capability (i.e. Landing speed is very high -- 213 to 255 mph, vs 160 mph for a jet airliner.

Prelaunch reports assume that Microsoft intentionally restricted supply [18], although there is no evidence to support this and Microsoft has said they are releasing all units into supply chains as quickly as possible [19] [20]. It glides to landing with a glide angle of 4:1. contest that offered participants a chance to win one of three hundred and sixty Xbox 360 console bundles six days before the official launch.[17]. In the lower atmosphere the orbiter flies much like a conventional glider, except for a much higher descent rate, over 10,000 feet per minute (roughly 20 times that of an airliner). The campaign was later revealed to be a U.S. Attitude control is achieved from a mixture of RCS thrusters and control surfaces. [16] This website hosted a number of images that appeared to perpetuate obscure conspiracy theories, but sometimes contained obtuse references to Xbox 360. This is achieved by performing s-curves at up to 70 degree bank angle.

On October 13, 2005, members of the TeamXbox forums were directed to the Hex168.com website through mysterious messages posted by someone called "Lutz". In addition, the standard reentry aims deliberately high- the vehicle needs to bleed off extra altitude and speed to reach the landing site. October 2005 saw the launch of "Hex168", another viral marketing campaign commissioned by Microsoft and executed by the Marden-Kane advertising agency. The vehicle attitude is controlled to take on a nose up attitude of up 40 degrees to maximise drag. Design for the website employs flash animation of a Bonsai tree and bland elevator music to create a serene environment that is punctuated by visually intense psychedelic episodes involving the host rabbits. The vehicle will then start significantly entering the atmosphere at about 400,000 ft doing around Mach 25. New contests include a Halo 2 tournament and a competition to design a "Gamertile" (an avatar icon). However the reentry can be and has (once) been flown manually.

The initial contest was a raffle that required participants to answer three trivia questions regarding the Xbox 360 for a chance to attend a promotional pre-launch event. The entire reentry, except for the lowering of the undercarriage, is under complete computer control. Unveiled on September 27, 2005 the website, hosted by talking rabbits Boss and Didier offers visitors an opportunity to enter in various contests. This OMS firing is done roughly halfway around the globe from the landing site. OrigenXbox360.com was the next viral marketing campaign from Microsoft. The deceleration of the Shuttle lowers its orbit perigee down into the atmosphere. Allard. The vehicle begins reentry by firing the OMS engines in the opposite direction to the orbital motion for about three minutes.

On May 12 the ARG section of OurColony closed, visitors were instead greeted with a promotional video hosted by J. The Shuttle then fires the OMS engines to circularize the orbit and avoid reentry. Throughout March and April OurColony.net offered challenges to its community, rewarding solutions with cropped pictures of the console and game screenshots. At this point the Shuttle is still slightly suborbital, since the trajectory intersects the atmosphere. The promotional campaign for Xbox 360 began on March 14, 2005 with the opening of an alternate reality game called OurColony. The tank then falls to largely burn up in the atmosphere, with some fragments falling into the Indian Ocean. EB Games locations received the Xbox 360 kiosks in their stores just over a week prior to its release. Before complete depletion of propellant (running dry would destroy the engines) the main engines are shutdown, and the empty external tank is released by firing explosive bolts.

In the first week of November, the Xbox 360 screen of death was reported. Finally, in the last tens of seconds of the main engine burn, the mass of the vehicle is low enough that the engines must be throttled back to limit vehicle acceleration to 3g, largely for astronaut health and comfort. In October/November 2005, North American Target and Wal-Mart stores received kiosks to demonstrate games like Call of Duty 2 and Kameo: Elements of Power. The vehicle continues to climb and takes on a somewhat nose-up angle to the horizon — it uses the main engines to gain and then maintain altitude whilst it accelerates horizontally towards orbit. Microsoft claims that most of the games were running at 25-30% of full capacity because they were not running on actual systems. However, as the burn continues, the weight of the propellant reduces, the ever-lighter vehicle produces more and more acceleration until the thrust to weight ratio exceeds 1 again and the vehicle can hold itself up. The demos were running on "Xbox 360 Alpha Development Kits" which were Apple PowerMac G5s, chosen due to the PowerPC processor architecture that the machine shares with the Xbox 360. The vehicle at that point in the flight has a thrust to weight ratio of less than one — the main engines actually have insufficient thrust to exceed the force of gravity, and the vertical speed given to it by the SRBs temporarily decreases.

The system, along with some playable games, were shown off at E3 2005. The Shuttle then begins accelerating to orbit on the Space Shuttle Main Engines. In the article he says "It's perfect...The day Sony launches [the new PlayStation], and they walk right into Halo 3." [13] Read more at wikiquote. Microsoft executive Robbie Bach later clarified this statement, saying "Philosophically the point Bill was trying to make is that we're not just going to ship and not have great stuff coming up."[14] Gates himself later clarified that "Halo 3 will ship when Bungie is ready." [15]. The SRBs parachute back to the ocean to be reused. The Xbox 360 was also featured on the cover of Time magazine's May 23, 2005 issue with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates holding up one of the units. 126 seconds after launch, explosive bolts release the SRBs and small separation rockets push them laterally away from the vehicle. The official unveiling of the system occurred on Thursday, May 12, 2005 on MTV in a program called MTV Presents: The Next Generation Xbox Revealed hosted by actor Elijah Wood with a musical performance by the band The Killers. Around a point called "max-q", where the aerodynamic forces are at their maximum, the main engines are temporarily throttled back to avoid overspeeding and hence overstressing the Shuttle (particularly vulnerable parts such as the wings).

See Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace, and Microsoft Points. Orbital velocity at the 380 km (236 miles) altitude of the International Space Station is 7.68 km per second, or 17,180 mph, roughly equivalent to Mach 23. Points can be purchased directly through Live or via game cards sold at retails shops such as Target. This isn't visually obvious since the vehicle rises vertically and is out of sight for most of the horizontal acceleration. While game demos and trailers are free, full versions of games must be purchased using a system called Microsoft Points. To achieve orbit requires expending much more energy in a horizontal direction than in a vertical direction. By far one of the most interesting features of the Xbox 360 Live is the capability to download arcade-style games through Xbox Live Arcade, as well as game demos and other content through Xbox Live Marketplace. The vehicle climbs in a progressively flattening arc, accelerating as the weight of the SRBs and main tank decrease.

It offers the following selections:. Shortly after clearing the tower the Shuttle rotates so that the vehicle is below the external tank and SRBs. The Xbox Game Guide is a tabbed user interface that can be accessed instantly by pressing the Guide Button on any Xbox 360 controller. At takeoff the vast majority (~71%) of the thrust is provided by the SRBs. An Xbox Live Gold account costs $49.99 USD, £39.99 Pounds Sterling, €59.99 per year (or, in the UK, a 3-month Gold membership is available for £11.99). After the Challenger disaster, there were extensive upgrades to abort modes. Then when the user goes to add a Xbox Live enabled profile to their console, the user just needs to provide the console with their passport account information. Many of these concern SSME failures, since that is the most complex and highly stressed component.

To transition an Xbox Live account to the new system the user needs to link a Microsoft Passport account to their gamer tag on Xbox.com. There are extensive emergency procedures (abort modes) to handle various failure scenarios during ascent. Microsoft has allowed for previous Xbox Live subscribers to maintain their profile information, buddy lists, and games history when they make the transition to Xbox Live Gold. The SRBs cannot be turned off once ignited, and afterwards the shuttle must take off, no matter what. However, video conferencing was not available when the console was first released. Initially the main engines are ignited and computers verify their operation for several seconds; if successful, the SRBs are ignited and the vehicle is then committed to takeoff. Xbox Live Gold has the same features as Silver plus online game playing capabilities and video conferencing. It is called the Shuttle-C and would trade re-usability for cargo capability with large potential savings from reusing technology developed for the Space Shuttle.

Microsoft has also announced there will be trial weekends for Silver members to access the full features of Gold service temporarily. A cargo-only, unmanned variant of the Shuttle has been variously proposed and rejected since the 1980s. Silver members are not allowed to play any games online. In addition the Air Force developed their own much lighter single-piece SRB design using a filament-wound system, but this too was cancelled. Xbox Live Silver is free of charge and allows users to create a profile, join on message boards, access to Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade, and talk to other members. The loss of the ASRB program forced the development of the Super LightWeight external Tank (SLWT), which provides some of the increased payload capability, while not providing any of the safety improvements. With the launch of the Xbox 360, Microsoft's online gaming service, Xbox Live went through a major upgrade adding a basic non-subscription service (Silver) to its already established premium subscription-based service (Gold). These culminated in the considerably simpler, lower cost, probably safer and better performing Advanced Solid Rocket Booster which was to have entered production in the early to mid-1990s to support the Space Station, but was later cancelled to save money after the expenditure of $2.2 billion.

Microsoft has changed the content of several Xbox games when running under the 360's emulator, such as when they blocked the Halo 2 trailers from running off of later copies of Halo: Combat Evolved discs, presumably because the advertisements promoted a very different game than what ended up being released. Several other SRB improvements were planned in order to improve performance and safety, but never came to be. [12]. Notable is the adding of a third O-ring seal to the joints between the segments, which occurred after the Challenger accident. Microsoft states that they will be adding more emulation profiles as they become available, with the intended goal of making the entire Xbox library playable on the Xbox 360. The SRBs (Solid Rocket Boosters) have undergone improvements as well. As of January 10, 2006, the Japanese Xbox site shows only 30 [11]. As the Shuttle cannot fly unmanned, each of these improvements has been "tested" on operational flights.

list includes over 200 games, fewer games are listed as backward compatible in the European markets. It weighs 7,500 lb (3.4 t) less than the last run of lightweight tanks. Although the U.S. This version of the tank is made of the 2195 Aluminum-Lithium alloy. market was released on November 11, 2005 and is maintained at Xbox.com. STS-91 saw the first flight of the "super light-weight external tank". The list of backward-compatible games for the U.S. The resulting "light-weight external tank" has been used on the vast majority of Shuttle missions.

[10]. Additional weight was saved by removing some of the internal "stringers" in the hydrogen tank that proved unnecessary. Updated emulation profiles can be obtained through Xbox Live, by burning a CD with content downloaded from Xbox.com, or by ordering an update disc from Microsoft at a small charge for shipping. The 600lbs saved by not painting the tank results in an almost 600lb increase in payload capability to orbit. Hard drives purchased separately or as part of the console package will include a certain number of "emulation profiles" for games, including Halo and Halo 2. For STS-1 and STS-2 the external tank was painted white to protect the insulation that covers much of the tank, but improvements and testing showed that it was not required. A hard drive is required to enable backward compatibility. The normal maximum throttle is 104%, with 106% and 109% available for abort emergencies.

Software emulation is far from perfect, as significant drops in framerate are observable in some titles.[9]. The 109% thrust level was finally reached in flight hardware with the Block II engines in 2001. Some games have slightly improved draw distance, possibly due to the system's greater memory bandwidth. The upgrades have improved engine reliability, maintainability and performance. Games have minor graphical enhancements due to being rendered in 720p resolutions with Anti-Aliasing enabled. SSME upgrades are denoted as "block numbers", such as block I, block II, and block IIA. The Xbox 360 achieves backward compatibility through software emulation of the original Xbox hardware. However this would have required revising much previous documentation and software, so the 104% number was retained.

The Playstation 3 also has impressive procedural synthesis capabilities, but the technical implementation differs significantly. They could have rescaled the output number, saying in essence 104% is now 100%. Other interesting examples of procedural synthesis are shown in various demoscene demos. During the lengthy development program, Rocketdyne determined the engine was capable of safe reliable operation at 104% of the originally specified thrust. Procedural synthesis is also found outside of the Xbox 360 in the advanced freeware FPS game .kkrieger, where such techniques have reduced the size of the visually stunning game to a mere 96 kilobytes. The 100% figure is the original specified power level. The downside to this approach is that when part of the L2 cache is locked, there is even less data immediately available to keep the 3 symmetric cores in the Xenon CPU running at full efficiency (1 MB of shared L2 is already a rather small amount of cache for 3 symmetric cores to share, especially considering that the Xenon CPU does not support out-of-order execution to more efficiently use available clock cycles). This explains phrases such as "Main engines throttling up to 104%." This does not mean the engines are being run over a safe limit.

The rationale behind this design is that procedurally generated game content can be streamed directly from CPU to GPU, without incurring additional latency by being stored in system RAM as an intermediary step. The Space Shuttle Main Engines have had several improvements to enhance reliability and power. The Xenos GPU can then read directly from this locked cache space and render the procedurally generated objects. With the coming of the Space Station, the Orbiter's internal airlocks are being replaced with external docking systems to allow for a greater amount of cargo to be stored on the Shuttle's mid-deck during Station resupply missions. When locked, a segment of cache no longer contains any prefetched instructions or data for the CPU, but is instead used as output space for the procedural synthesis thread. In the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project tradition, programmable calculators are carried as well (originally the HP-41C). The Xbox 360's architecture was designed with this approach in mind.[8] When running procedural synthesis algorithms, one of the Xenon CPU's cores may "lock" a portion of the 1 MB shared L2 cache. This is called a "glass cockpit".

Instead, a general recursive algorithm will generate the tree's model and textures, so that each tree looks different from the next, and do so with high efficiency. In addition to the computer upgrades, the original vector graphics monochrome cockpit displays were replaced with modern raster color displays, similar to contemporary airliners like the Airbus A320. A game with only one model for a tree will appear odd, as nature is far more random; the game loses some of its immersion as a result. Internally the Shuttle remains largely similar to the original design, with the exception of the improved avionics computers. For example, trees are one of the most complicated objects to render in a game, due to their organic complexity. The memory was changed from magnetic core to semiconductor with battery backup. Procedural synthesis is an approach to generating game content via algorithms. In 1990 the original computers were replaced with an upgraded model AP-101S, which has about 2.5 times the memory capacity (about 1 megabyte) and three times the processor speed (about 1.2 million instructions per second).

A newer approach to generating content is utilised for Xbox 360 titles, a method referred to by Microsoft as procedural synthesis. They have no hard disk drive, but load software from tape cartridges. As complexity in each rises, the demand for storage rises as well. The CPU could process about 400,000 instructions per second. In traditional games, all content is statically stored and generally immutable; that is, textures, meshes, and other game content is stored on a storage medium. The IBM AP-101 computers originally had about 424 kilobytes of magnetic core memory each. For the Xbox 360, Microsoft has drawn on recent research in computer graphics to enable a new method for game programming. It is specifically designed for a real time embedded system environment.

For example, John Carmack stated at QuakeCon 2005 that the Xbox 360 had "the best development environment" he has seen for a console. The software for the shuttle computers are written in a high-level language called HAL/S, somewhat similar to PL/I. To date, some developers have endorsed XNA Studio. However in theory it can fail, so the BFS exists for that contingency. Microsoft believes that this will give developers more time to generate unique content and reduce time running the content process. For example the number of code lines is tiny relative to a commercial operating system, changes are only made infrequently and with extensive testing, and many programming and test personnel work on the small amount of computer code. XNA Studio will allow team members to collaborate using familiar techniques and tools, even when elements of the team are distributed geographically, an increasing trend in game development. This should never happen, as embedded system avionic software is developed under totally different conditions than commercial software.

These tools are designed to work together to automate common development tasks and present interfaces tailored to the different functions within the team. The BFS was created because although the four primary computers are hardware redundant, they all run the same software, so a generic software problem could crash all of them. XNA Studio will provide versions of key production tools such as asset management, defect tracking, project automation and work lists. The Backup Flight System (BFS) is separately developed software running on the fifth computer, used only if the entire four-computer primary system fails. Based on Microsoft's Visual Studio 2005 Team System, the XNA Studio is the Visual Studio for game development; an integrated, team-based development environment tailored for game production. In the rare case of two out of four computers simultaneously failing (a two-two split), one group is picked at random. XNA Studio will enable collaboration between content creators, programmers, management and QA staff to speed the game production process. If a second computer of the three remaining fails, the two functioning computers vote it out.

XNA Studio covers three areas: Content Creation, Production Processes and Game Technologies. This isolates it from vehicle control. The Xbox 360 game development will be centered around the XNA Studio game development platform. If one computer fails the three functioning computers "vote" it out of the system. In March 2004, Microsoft announced a new game development software strategy dubbed "XNA", which Microsoft claims would enable game studios to cut development times by up to a third if developing across multiple Microsoft platforms, by means of tools created with the increasing difficulty of programming for a machine with three processor cores in mind. The four general purpose computers operate essentially in lockstep, checking each other. During early development the Xbox 360 was referred to as "Xenon", "Xbox 2", and "Xbox Next". After two failures it can land safely.

[7]. After a single failure the shuttle can continue the mission. By using a program "mceDivX360" on the PC, the Xbox 360 is able to receive streamed films which are converted to WMV format from DivX by Windows Media Encoder. The design goal of the shuttle DPS is fail operational/fail safe reliability. The Xbox 360 is able to stream movies from a PC running Windows XP Media Center Edition, although it is unable to stream movies in DivX format. Collectively they are called the shuttle Data Processing System (DPS). Windows Media Connect allows users to stream their favorite music collection through the Xbox 360 Dashboard, and allows users to play their music via the Xbox 360 Guide in place of the game's original soundtrack. A fifth backup computer runs separate software called the Backup Flight System (BFS).

After installation the computer and the and Xbox 360 will automatically detect one other. Four computers run specialized software called the Primary Avionics Software System (PASS). To connect the Xbox 360 to a computer the user will need to download Windows Media Connect. The shuttle uses five identical redundant IBM 32-bit general purpose computers (GPCs), model AP-101, constituting a type of embedded system. The Xbox 360 has the ability to connect to Windows XP based computers over a home network to stream music and pictures right to a TV. Much research went into the shuttle computer system. The main dashboard is divided into 4 main sections:. A primary concern with digital fly-by-wire systems is reliability.

From there, the full Dashboard can be run, exiting the current game. This means no mechanical or hydraulic linkages connect the pilot's control stick to the control surfaces or reaction control system thrusters. The Dashboard can also be accessed via the Xbox Guide button on the controller at any time to open a player specific blade. The shuttle was one of the earliest aircraft to use a computerized fly-by-wire digital flight control system. The Dashboard will launch automaticially at boot if no game disc is inserted into the console. The SRB cases are made of steel about 1/2 inch (1.27 cm) thick. The Dashboard is the main interface to the Xbox 360, governed by a series of "blades" to subdivide categories. They are jettisoned two minutes after launch at a height of 36 nautical miles (67 km), then deploy parachutes and land in the ocean to be recovered.

Due to the limited space of standard DVDs, some games made for the system may span multiple discs, although procedural generation of textures and models (as seen in the PC game .kkrieger) may reduce the need for multiple discs. The Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) contain the solid fuel that provides about 71% of the vehicle's liftoff thrust. Xbox 360 games are set to the standard 7.95GB of storage available on a dual-layer DVD. The ET is made of aluminum-lithium alloy. Bill Gates has confirmed during his keynote speech at CES 2006 that an external HD-DVD drive will be released for the 360 this year.[5] However, Peter Moore has stated that if HD-DVD loses the format war, Microsoft may release an external Blu-Ray drive.[6]. It is discarded 8.5 minutes after launch at an altitude of 60 nautical miles (111 km) then burns up on reentry. [4]. The External Tank (ET) contains the 2 million liters (528,000 gallons) of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant that feeds the SSMEs.

It has been confirmed by Yoshihiro Maruyama, Japan's chief of Xbox operations, that Microsoft will never release games for Xbox 360 in a format other than DVD. The orbiter structure is made primarily from aluminum alloy, although the engine thrust structure is made from titanium. The other supported formats are: CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R/RW, WMACD, MP3CD, and JPEG Photo CD. Unlike previous space vehicles which used insulation that burned off during reentry and couldn't be reused, the orbiter thermal protection can be reused up to 100 times with only minor repairs. A 12X DVD-ROM SATA drive, capable of reading DVD+R/RW discs and DVD-R/RW, is part of the console, with game titles shipping on single or dual-layer DVDs. Lower temperature areas on the upper surfaces are protected by flexible thermal blankets. The system bandwidth comprises:. The underbelly and much of the fuselage sides is protected by silica tiles.

The graphics processing unit (GPU) is a custom ATI R500-based "Xenos". The hottest areas are on the wing leading edges and nose, which are protected by reinforced carbon/carbon. ^[3]. Various materials are used, depending on the amount of heat. The central processing unit (CPU), named Xenon (Microsoft) or Waternoose (IBM) is a custom IBM triple-core PowerPC-based design. The Thermal Protection System (TPS) covers the outside of the obiter, protecting it from the intense heat during reentry. Specifications are also available at the official Xbox website. The Reaction Control System (RCS) provides attitude control and translation along the pitch, roll, and yaw axes during the flight phases of orbit insertion, orbit, and reentry.

The price of these custom designs are around $20 with more to be released by third party manufacturers. The Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) provides orbital maneuvers, including insertion, circularization, transfer, rendezvous, abort to orbit, and abort once around. Microsoft has also distributed two promotional faceplates, one for those present at the E3 2005 unveiling and one for VIP X05 attendees. They are used for propulsion during ascent. The default faceplate (Xbox 360's Chrome or Core System's Chill) can be replaced with a range of custom designs, each to be sold separately. Three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) are mounted in the rear part of the obiter. According to J Allard, the chief of Microsoft's Xbox division, Microsoft may sell larger capacity detachable hard drives for the Xbox 360 in the future, and territories outside of North America may have a differently sized hard drive in the retail unit. Since the arm is a crucial part of the Thermal Protection Inspection procedures now required for Shuttle flights, it will probably be included on all future flights.

This drive will not be included in the Core System bundle at launch, and also will not be sold separately in Japan. Until the loss of Columbia, the Canadarm had been used only on those missions where it was needed. This content will be included on both the bundled hard drive and the stand alone product. Inside the payload bay is the Remote Manipulator System, also known as the Canadarm, a robot arm used to retrieve and deploy payloads. The individual drives will come pre-loaded with a promotional video about the making of the Xbox 360, the "XBOX 360 Custom Mix" (A collection of music), additional Dashboard skins, songs, additional Xbox Live Gamertag images, and Hexic HD, an Xbox Live Arcade game from Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov. Thermal control is also maintained by adjusting the orientation of the Shuttle relative to Earth and Sun. A hard drive is also required for the user to be able to play backward compatible Xbox games. The payload bay doors have heat radiators mounted on their inner surfaces, and so are kept open for thermal control while the Shuttle is in orbit.

Only 13 GB of this hard drive are available to the user; the rest is reserved for the system and games. The orbiter has a large 60 by 15 ft (18  m by 4.6 m) payload bay, filling most of the fuselage. A detachable SATA 20 GB hard drive is used for the storage of games, music, downloaded trailers, levels, demos, player preferences, and community-created content from Xbox Live Marketplace; it may also be used to transfer such content between Xbox 360 units. Astronauts pass through the airlock hatch to put on their space suits. This port replaces the two proprietary USB connectors on the front of the Xbox controller. Galley, toilet, sleep locations, storage lockers, and the side hatch for entering/exiting the vehicle is also located there, as is the airlock hatch into the payload bay. The rear of the controller includes a port where the player can connect a headset. The mid-deck has three more seats for the rest of the crew members.

The black and white buttons have been redesigned as shoulder buttons, now referred to as bumper buttons, located above the left and right triggers. The highest flight deck seats the commander and pilot, two mission specialists in the back. The ring of light lights up the quadrant (on the controller as well as the console) that represents the player number assigned to that controller (starting with the top left quadrant as player one, and proceeding clockwise to player 4 in the bottom left). Its crew cabin consists of three levels: the flight deck, the mid-deck, and the utility area. Pressing the Xbox guide button will bring the Xbox 360 out of sleep mode, turn the console on or off, and bring up the "Xbox Guide" for access to digital movies, music and games libraries. The orbiter resembles an airplane with delta wings. The Xbox 360 controller adds an Xbox guide button, which has the appearance of the Xbox 360 emblem and is surrounded by a ring of green LEDs. The vehicle is launched vertically like a conventional rocket, and the orbiter glides to a horizontal landing like an airplane, after which it is refurbished for reuse.

The controller for the Xbox 360 is a similar version of the Type-S gamepad for the original Xbox. The tank and boosters are jettisoned during ascent, so only the orbiter goes into orbit. The wireless controller has a battery life of up to 25 hours on the NiMH rechargeable battery pack (optional and recommended) and a recommended range of up to 30 feet (9.14 m). The shuttle is a partially reusuable launch system composed of three main assemblies: the reusable Orbiter Vehicle (OV), the expendable External Tank (ET), and the two reusable Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). The controllers have two digital Touch-sensitive trigger buttons.The rest of the buttons are not Touch-sensitive. Columbia was lost, with all seven crew members, during reentry on February 1, 2003, and has not been replaced. The wired controller has a nine foot (2.74 m) long cord with a break-away feature. Endeavour was built to replace it (using spare parts originally intended for the other Orbiters) and delivered in May 1991.

Since the controller has a USB cable, it is also usable in Windows PCs. Challenger was destroyed when she disintegrated during launch on January 28, 1986, with the loss of all seven astronauts on board. Alternately it can support two wired controllers through the use of its USB ports at the front, the USB port on the back will support a third controller. The Shuttle was meant to visit Space Station Freedom, announced in 1984, an ambitious and much-delayed project later downsized and merged into the International Space Station program. The Xbox 360 has the ability to support up to four wireless controllers. Challenger was delivered to KSC in July 1982, Discovery was delivered in November 1983, and Atlantis was delivered in April 1985.
. The first fully functional Shuttle Orbiter, built in Palmdale, California, was the Columbia, which was delivered to Kennedy Space Center on March 25, 1979, and was first launched on April 12, 1981—the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's space flight—with a crew of two.

This discrepancy is partially accounted for by the time needed to localize the games. Amid great fanfare, the Enterprise was rolled out on September 17, 1976, and later conducted a successful series of glide-approach and landing tests that were the first real validation of the design. Japanese customers, however, only had six titles to choose from by the time the Xbox 360 was released on December 10, 2005. The first complete Orbiter was originally named Constitution, but a massive write-in campaign from fans of the Star Trek television series convinced the White House to change the name to Enterprise. The European countries had fifteen titles available for the launch date of December 2, 2005. The contractor for the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters was Morton Thiokol (now part of Alliant Techsystems), for the external tank, Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin), and for the Space shuttle main engines, Rocketdyne. Eighteen launch titles were available for customers in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico on November 22, 2005. The prime contractor for the program was North American Aviation (later Rockwell International), the same company responsible for the Apollo Command/Service Module.

For full details see Console Launch. The final design was less costly and less technically ambitious than earlier fully reusable designs. Without it the Xbox 360 numbers sold were less than originally anticipated. The Shuttle program was formally launched on January 5, 1972, when President Nixon announced that NASA would proceed with the development of a reusable Space Shuttle system. The main reason for this may have been the delaying of Dead Or Alive 4 which remains an extremely popular Xbox 360 Japanese game. Ultimately the current design was chosen, using a reusable winged orbiter, solid rocket boosters, and expendable external tank. In Japan, it was received far less enthusiastically, despite the low price and bonus features. During early shuttle development there was great debate about the optimal shuttle design that best balanced capability, development cost and operating cost.

Many stores sold out on the first day, and as of mid-January consumers had to hunt across many stores to find one in stock. They evaluated the shuttle studies to date, and recommended a national space strategy including building a space shuttle. The Xbox 360 has been released in North America, Puerto Rico, Europe and Japan. Agnew. They have also stated that they may release a similar Blu-ray attachment, depending on which format (HD-DVD or Blu-ray) becomes standard, though there is currently no plan except the support for HD-DVD. Nixon formed the Space Task Group, chaired by vice president Spiro T. Microsoft plans to release an external HD-DVD attachment to play high-definition movies. In 1969 President Richard M.

Xbox 360 is compatible with DVD movies, but not HD-DVD nor Blu-Ray. The early studies were denoted "Phase A", and in June 1970, "Phase B", which were more detailed and specific. Microsoft hopes to avoid such a predicament with its new console, the company is predicting that a greater market share and falling hardware costs will make the Xbox 360 a profitable item. Even before the Apollo moon landing in 1969, in October 1968 NASA began early studies of space shuttle designs. Microsoft's home entertainment division posted a loss through nearly every quarter of the console's lifecycle as a result. . Because of these chips and the added expense of a hard drive component, Microsoft was never able to reduce the cost of manufacturing an Xbox below the break-even point.
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Both of these were very similar to "off the shelf" PC hardware and were therefore sold to Microsoft at inflated market prices. However, following the STS-114 return-to-flight mission in August 2005, the Shuttle program is currently grounded pending repairs and the solution of outstanding safety issues. This flexibility stands in contrast to the situation faced by the original Xbox, which contained a processor from Intel (a slightly modified Pentium III) and a GPU from NVidia (a modified GeForce 3). According to the Vision for Space Exploration, use of the Space Shuttle will be focused on completing assembly of the ISS in 2010, after which it will be replaced by the yet-to-be-developed Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). Also, since Microsoft owns the patents or licenses thereunder for all custom hardware used in the Xbox 360, they can easily switch to new fabrication processes or change suppliers in the future in order to reduce manufacturing costs. The program started in the late 1960s and has dominated NASA's manned operations since the mid-1970s. The strategy of selling a console at a loss or near-loss is common in the console games industry, as console makers can usually expect to make up the investment with revenue from game licensing. Each Shuttle was designed for a projected lifespan of 100 launches or 10-years operational life.

BusinessWeek magazine compiled a report which estimates that the total cost of all of the components in the "premium" bundle is $525 USD, aside from additional manufacturing costs, meaning that Microsoft is losing at least $126 on every Xbox 360 system sold in the US, and at least as much in Japan. However this cabability is used to return large payloads to earth from the International Space Station, as the Russian Soyuz has limited capacity for return payloads. However because of the existence of a Core System edition, many games do not require a hard drive. While the vehicle was designed with the capability to recover satellites and other payloads from orbit and return them to Earth, this capacity has not been used often. Microsoft's decision has also allowed Japanese developers to fully utilize the hard drive to optimize game performance, since it is part of the default system configuration in their market. It carries large payloads to various orbits, provides crew rotation for the International Space Station (ISS), and performs servicing missions. Japanese pricing of the console has drawn some criticism, as customers there will be able to purchase the Xbox 360 full package, albeit one region-coded for Japan, for a lower price than in other countries. It is also the first winged manned spacecraft to achieve orbit and land.

The Xbox 360 Premium Edition is being sold in America for $399.99. The Shuttle is the first orbital spacecraft designed for partial reusability. The Core System is not available in Japan, instead Microsoft offers a package identical to the Xbox 360 SKU for ¥37,900 ($323.90 as of 21 December 05 8:09 UTC, [1]). When its mission is complete, it re-enters the earth's atmosphere and makes an unpowered gliding horizontal landing, usually on a runway at Kennedy Space Center. In United Kingdom and Europe, the console is available in two versions: an Xbox 360 SKU, frequently referred to as the "Xbox 360 Premium Package"; and an Xbox 360 Core System SKU. The winged shuttle orbiter is launched vertically, carrying usually five to seven astronauts and up to about 22,700 kg (50,000 lbs) of payload into low earth orbit. Microsoft's current retail strategy involves two different configurations of the Xbox 360 in most countries. NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System (STS), is the United States government's sole manned launch vehicle currently in service.

. The trailer allows the transportation of the Orbiter from the OPF to either the SCA-747 "Mate-Demate" stand or the VAB without placing any additional stress on the undercarriage. Australia and New Zealand, after being delayed, have been set-back from March 2 to March 23. Prior to the closing of the Vandenburg facility, Orbiters were transported from the OPF to the VAB on its undercarriage, only to be raised when the Orbiter was being lifted for attachment to the SRB/ET stack. It will be released February 24 in South Korea, March 16, 2006 in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan (Delayed from original March 2 launch date). Air Force's launch facility at Vandenburg Air Force Base in California (since then converted for Delta V rockets) that would transport the Orbiter from the landing facility to the launch pad, which allowed both "stacking" and launch without utilizing a separate VAB-style building and crawler-transporter roadway. The Xbox 360 was released on November 22, 2005 in United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico, December 2 in Europe, December 10 in Japan, February 2, 2006 in Mexico and Colombia. A 36-wheeled transport trailer, originally built for the U.S.

It is equipped with 512 MB of RAM and uses the DVD-ROM storage medium for Xbox 360 game software. The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft is a modified Boeing 747 that flies the Space Shuttle from alternative landing sites back to Cape Canaveral. The console hardware is based on a custom IBM PowerPC-based "Xenon" central processing unit (CPU) and a custom ATI R500-based "Xenos" graphics processing unit (GPU). The Crawler-Transporter moves the Space Shuttle from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39. The Xbox 360 configuration, often referred to as the "Premium Edition", includes a hard drive (required for backwards compatibility with original Xbox games), a wireless controller, a headset, an Ethernet cable, an Xbox Live silver subscription, and a component HD AV cable (which can also be used on non-HD TVs). While the shuttle might safely endure a lightning strike, a similar strike caused problems on Apollo 14, so for improved safety NASA chooses to not launch the shuttle if lightning is possible. In all countries except Japan the console is sold in two different configurations: the "Xbox 360" and the "Xbox 360 Core System". However upon takeoff the shuttle sends out a long exhaust plume as it ascends, and this plume can trigger lightning, plus provide a current path to ground.

The Xbox 360 will compete amongst the upcoming generation of consoles, including the Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Revolution, and was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, a week before the E3 trade show. Like most jet airliners, the shuttle is constructed of conductive aluminum which would normally protect the internal systems. The Xbox 360 is Microsoft's second video game console, the successor to their original Xbox. Airplanes are often struck by lightning with no adverse effects because the electricity of the strike is dissipated through the conductive structure and the aircraft is not electrically grounded. Membership to the Xbox 360 VIP website. The shuttle is not launched under conditions where it could be struck by lightning. One Xbox 360 Preview DVD. Since then, NASA has installed commercial plastic owl decoys and inflatable owl balloons which must be removed prior to launch.

One Wireless Controller. One shuttle launch was delayed in 1995 when a pair of woodpeckers drilled almost 200 holes into the foam insulation of Discovery's external tank. Perfect Dark Zero. When CNN reported on the breakup of the Columbia over Texas, they erroneously reported it was traveling at nearly 18 times the speed of light, instead of 18 times the speed of sound. Xbox 360 Faceplate. (source : John Young's April 2003 After Dinner Speech). Friends Lists. On the same subject, a little-publicised detail about the first Shuttle mission, STS-1, was that it had a protruding gapfiller that ducted hot gas into the right wheel well on re-entry, buckling the right main gear on landing as a result.

Custom Playlists. This image from the NASA archives shows many missing tiles on the STS-1 OMS pods : [[5]] The problem on Columbia was that the damage was sustained to the carbon-carbon leading edge panel of the wing, not the heat tiles. Favorites List. STS-1, STS-16 and STS-41 have all flown with missing thermal tiles from the orbital maneuvering system pods (visible to all the crew). Marketplace. In fact Shuttles had come back missing as many as 20 tiles without any problem. Xbox Live. The subject of missing or damaged thermal tiles on the Shuttle fleet only became an issue following the loss of Columbia in 2003 as it broke up on re-entry.

Initial Setup - Runs the system setup that executes the first time the Xbox 360 is used. At the point when it is perfectly vertical, the boosters ignite and the launch commences. Computers - Manage connections to other computers over network. This takes approximately 6 seconds. Network Settings - Create and manage internet connections, set up wireless connections. As the boosters flex back into their original shape, the launch stack springs slowly back upright. Memory - Manage things on the harddrive such as game saves, profiles, and downloaded content. After main engine start, but while the solid rocket boosters are still clamped to the pad, the offset thrust from the Shuttle's three main engines causes the entire launch stack (boosters, tank and shuttle) to flex forwards about 2 meters at the cockpit level.

Family Settings - Toggle parental controls, adjust profile levels. When watching a launch, look for the "nod" ("Twang" in "NASAese"). Console Settings - Edit Xbox 360 settings such as display, audio, and language. NASA was one of its main customers. Media Center - Activate Media Center extender. The Compass sold poorly, because it cost at least $8000, but offered unmatched performance for its weight and size. Video - Watch videos stored on the HD. Early Shuttle missions took along the GRiD Compass, arguably the first laptop computer.

Pictures - View pictures stored on a camera, a computer or other portable devices. This is still lower than the actual approximately $100 million per launch, but less difference than is commonly thought. Music - Listen to music from the hard drive, computer or other USB-connected devices. Correcting for inflation to 2005 dollars, this equates roughly to $36 million incremental costs per launch. Trailers - Watch downloaded movie/game trailers. Early cost estimates of $118 per pound of payload were based on marginal or incremental launch costs, and based on 1972 dollars and assuming a 65,000 pound payload capacity. Demos - Play downloaded game demos. Some early hypothetical studies examined 55 launches per year, but the maximum possible launch rate was limited to 24 per year, based on manufacturing capacity of the external tank.

Xbox Live Arcade - Allows the user to play games they have downloaded from the Xbox Live Marketplace. This does not reduce actual operating costs, but if dividing total program costs by number of launches, more launches per year produces a lower per-launch cost figure. Played Games - Displays a list of all the games the user has played. Launch rate is significantly lower than initially expected. Achievements - Allows the user to view all of their unlocked achievements from games they have played. Before the current "Block II" engines, the turbopumps (a primary engine component) had to be removed, dissembled, and totally overhauled after each flight. Xbox Live Marketplace - Download a wide variety of content such as avatars, trailers, even game demos. The main engines were highly complex and maintenance intensive, necessitating removal and extensive inspection after each flight.

Friends - Displays the user's Xbox Live friend list. Maintenance of thermal protection tiles turned out to be very labor intensive, averaging about 1 person·week to replace a tile, with hundreds damaged with each launch. Messages - View messages, friend requests or game invites sent by other Xbox Live members. Columbia — lost during reentry, February 1, 2003. Connect to Xbox Live - If offline, allows the user to connect to Xbox Live. Challenger — lost 73 seconds after liftoff, January 28, 1986. There are several ways to utilize the custom soundtrack option: by ripping music from audio CD's, by streaming music directly from a PC, plugging in a USB Flash Drive, or by plugging in a USB-capable portable music player. Ulysses probe.

Microsoft claims all games will support custom music. Galileo spacecraft. 3 USB 2.0 ports. Magellan probe. Some games will optionally support native 1080i and 480p video resolutions as well. An interplanetary orbit; these have included: