NASA Launch Complex Gets Demolished, Bounces Back [Launch Pad Crash]

Sur le même thème que "NASA Launch Complex Gets Demolished, Bounces Back [Launch Pad Crash]"

NASA Troubleshoots in Space and On the Ground

As expected, Tuesday is turning out to be a busy day for NASA: two American astronauts are investigating a cranky rotary joint at the International Space Station while NASA engineers run a test on shuttle Atlantis' external fuel tank at Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39A to pinpoint what's behind faulty fuel sensors. Space Station Commander Peggy Whitson and flight engineer Dan Tani are currently finishing the 100th spacewalk conducted in the history of the assembly of the station. The astronauts are peeking inside all 22 insulation covers surrounding the entire circumference of the starboard rotary joint that keeps solar panels on the right side of the station tracking the sun for power. The starboard joint has been locked in place since October after it first started malfunctioning. Cursory inspections found metal shavings and pitting on one of the gear rings, known as a race ring, that turn the panels. Although the shavings and fine powder indicate metal-on-metal grinding, engineers have been unable to pinpoint what exactly is causing the problem. Whitson and Tani reported more signs of more shavings and powder around the joint today, with most contamination located around some bearing assemblies -- specifically trundle bearings Nos. 4 and 5. However, they have found no contamination at all on the second race ring which could be used as a backup. The astronauts have been collecting samples of the shavings with adhesive tape. During the spacewalk, Whitson broke the record for the most time spacewalking by a woman. She eclipsed the previous benchmark -- 29 hours and 17 minutes -- set by fellow NASA astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams earlier this year. "No pressure now, Peggy. You are the queen of EVA. You are the world record holder," astronaut Joe Tanner said from Mission Control. "Thank you. It's just being in the right place at the right time," Whitson said. Whitson and Tani plan to remove 22 thermal covers around the race ring for a detailed inspection of all the bearings. They are also taking digital photographs that will be sent to engineers on the ground for analysis. They plan to remove trundle bearing No. 5 for eventual return to Earth aboard Atlantis if it manages to launch next month. Atlantis has been grounded by faulty fuel sensors. To try to get to the bottom of the problem, NASA has filled the tank with super-cold liquid hydrogen to run tests on the sensors. During the test, for the first time, one of the four senors that had never malfuctioned before, sent bad data.. Previously only three sensors had intermittently sent faulty data when the tank was being filled with fuel. NASA commentator George Diller said the failure of sensor No. 2 was new. "Now we've seen all four sensors display some sort of anomalous data," Diller said. "We just don't know what the problem is." The external tank, once full, will be kept full for several hours before being emptied of 500,000 gallons of cryogenic fuel at around 1 p.m. While the tank is full, engineers will run tests on electronic monitors placed on the sensors to gather data. NASA officials hope to talk about some preliminary findings at 4.30 p.m. today. [lien] [EN]

NASA Prepares Shuttle Atlantis Tank for Sensor Fix

Technicians at Kennedy Space Center on Friday started removing foam insulation from a portion of shuttle Atlantis' external tank to get ready to start work repairing the faulty wiring connecting the tank's vital fuel sensors. A test earlier this week identified the wiring as being behind the fuel sensor malfunction that has delayed Atlantis' long-awaited mission to the International Space Station for more than a month.  The foam removal operations on launch pad 39-A  are scheduled to finish sometime over the weekend. The foam is being removed so the technicians can get to a pass-through electrical connector that was pinpointed as the likely source of the problem.  Technicians will begin inspecting and testing the connector if approval is received for its removal next week when NASA mission managers meet to discuss plans to fix the fuel sensor system -- a vital safety system. The next opportunity to launch Atlantis will occur no earlier than Jan. 10, and will only proceed if the sensor system is working properly. [lien] [EN]

CSTB : Launching Pad For All Sorts Of Multimedia Exposure, Acclaim

06.17.08 CSTB : Launching Pad For All Sorts Of Multimedia Exposure, Acclaim Posted in politics, non-sporting journalism, Internal Affairs at 4:23 pm by GC OK, that’s not entirely true. There’s no evidence to suggest the outside activities of this blog’s talented contributors have in any fashion become more lucrative in the wake of their CSTB notoriety. But with no money to pay any of the new writers, I’ve got to do something to make it look like this is a useful stepping stone. I have to admit, I’d never heard of the Sex Positive Journalism Awards, but now that I have, I’m pretty fucking sure Matt Ufford’s never been nominated for one. Our own Jason Cohen, however, is one of 2008’s winners, his July ‘07 “There’s Something About Mary’s” (a Portland Monthly profile of a venerable local strip joint) was recognized as a 3rd place finisher. Not to be outdone, David Roth can be seen at Slate.com, creating a homemade /  econo political ad. You’ve got to admit, he accomplished a ton without once showing a revolving door or mentioning Willie Horton. Permalink [lien] [EN]

N. Korea positions rocket on launch pad

North Korea positions what is believed to be a long-range ballistic missile on its launch pad, a U.S. counter-proliferation official says. [lien] [EN]

DJ AM Bounces Back Post-Crash

Here is your first glimpse of DJ AM since the fatal plane crash. The 35-year-old, whose real name is Adam Goldstein, stepped out to attend a memorial service for Travis Barker’s assistant, Chris Baker. Mourners were asked to wear green to the service, which was held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood. DJ AM was released from Doctors Hospital in Augusta, Georgia on Saturday, a week after the crash that took the lives of four people. He and former Blink-182 drummer Barker were the only survivors. “While he is deeply saddened by the events, he is thankful for all of the love and support he has been receiving from fans and friends worldwide,” his rep, Jenni Weinman, has said. “We ask that you continue to respect his privacy as he rests and heals and mourns the loss of his friends.” FYI: Two weeks before the crash, I met up with DJ AM on the red carpet at the MTV VMAs (pictured below). GET WELL SOON, AM! [lien] [EN]

NASA's Ares 1 Rocket in Trouble Again: Could Crash Into Launch Tower [Nasa]

NASA's Ares 1 rocket may be facing another large technological hurdle before it can take part in the future lunar missions: it's apparently in danger of banging into its own launch tower if the wind is up. Actually, the wind needs only be a gentle-sounding 12.7mph from the south-east to cause problems, and it's all to do with how the rocket's solid fuel motor causes it to "hop" on ignition, before it powers upwards. Computer models are reportedly showing that during this crucial moment, the wind could cause enough "liftoff drift" that the rocket could get dangerously close to the tower. And if it managed to avoid an impact, there's still the danger of the flaming rocket gas output badly damaging the tower's structures. NASA itself seems confident it can overcome this problem (if it ultimately proves to be a significant enough one) by positioning the tower differently or redesigning the launchpad: both requiring time and money that could impact the bigger program. After the earlier reports of "tuning-fork" problems with the manned missile, the calls for an alternative solution to the whole Constellation program begin to look interesting again: what's your opinion chaps? My take on this: this sort of hurdle comes up frequently when you're in a program of this scale and complexity—some sort of better workaround will surface eventually. [Orlando Sentinel] Read More: Google, NASA Team Up to Bring Internet to Space, NASA Working On a Robotic Space Psychologist, Astronauts in Grave Danger, NASA Returns to the Moon as Indian Spacecraft Stowaway, IBEX Launches Today on Man's Most Depressing Space Mission Ever [lien] [EN]

Shadow Complex launch trailer

Shadow Complex launch trailer by Richard Mitchell { Aug 7th 9 at 5PM } You know that Shadow Complex is good, right? Yeah, well, it is, and this trailer aims to make sure you know it. Apart from a liberal sprinkling of impressive-sounding critical quotes, there's also some gameplay in there, too. If you hold an Xbox 0 controller as you watch it, you can pretend that you're playing it right now. If you take a controller to work, you can pretend to play at work, too! Until you can actually play the real thing, It's really the only sensible thing to do. [lien] [EN]

SpaceX Moves Launches to Cape Canaveral, Closer to Rockets That Don't Always Explode [Space]

After three fiery failed test launches of its Falcon 1 rocket (the last one carrying NASA's first solar sail craft and Scotty from Star Trek's ashes), Elon Musk's SpaceX is setting up shop at a new launch site—Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 40, which is just south of SLC-39A/B, from which the Space Shuttle and Apollo moon missions have headed skyward for decades. There they hope to prepare the first test of their Falcon 9 vehicle, the bigger and badder version of the Falcon 1 rocket that just can't stop going BOOM. The Falcon 1 rockets have all been launched from Kwajalein, in the US Marshall islands in the Pacific. Moving to the Cape will allow SpaceX to work more closely with NASA, which is still planning to rely on private systems like Falcon 9 to carry the Space Shuttle's burden of ISS service and orbital insertions after it retires by 2010, and until Orion can take up the mantle in 2015 (which many see as an optimistic time frame). Honestly though, we admire SpaceX. They're pushing private-sector space operations further than most would ever dare—let's just hope they get a break soon. For Scotty. [Space Ref via /.] [lien] [EN]

NASA Finds Sensor Problem But Atlantis Launch Date No Closer

NASA troubleshooters determined on Tuesday that the problem that delayed space shuttle Atlantis’ launch by at least a month is not caused by defective fuel sensors as originally suspected, but by a bad connector that links wires from the sensors inside the shuttle's fuel tank to the outside. The findings were the result of a long test that monitored the sensors as the shuttle’s giant orange external tank was filled with 500,000 gallons of super-cold liquid hydrogen and then left to stand for hours before it was drained. It is a critical step to solving one of NASA’s most vexing problems since the shuttle returned to flight in 2005 after the Columbia disaster. "Today the sensors themselves were exonerated in this test, and this is clearly a problem in the wiring upstream as it comes out of the tank," Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale told a news conference after the test. But despite the breakthrough, NASA is still not expecting to launch Atlantis earlier than January 10. Hale said that his team of engineers and technicians would be concentrating their efforts on the "Pass Through Connector" to figure out how to solve the problem that leads the sensors to register faulty data. The sensors act like a "low fuel" gauge on an automobile, telling the shuttle’s main engines to shut off when fuel is running out. Running the shuttle’s engines dry could lead to catastrophe. Hale said they were able to pinpoint the source of the trouble using a special device, called Time Domain Reflectometry instrumentation, that was spliced into the sensor system. During the test the TDR, as it is called, sent a short electrical pulse down the line to determine where electrical resistance in the wires changed, indicating a bad electrical connection. Now that NASA engineers know where the trouble is, they have to figure out why it is happening and how to solve it. "We are going to be taking a very hard look at how [the connector] was assembled; what in particular might be going on with this particular connector, how we might find our manufacturer better connectors, and what we might do to repair [it]," Hale said. Hale was emphatic that until NASA comes up with a solution it will not set a date for Atlantis to take off on its long-awaited mission to deliver a European laboratory module up to the International Space Station. "Where the troubleshooting, replacement and repair work leads us will determine what the launch date is going to be," Hale said. "We are not going to be driven by schedule on this one. We need to get to the bottom of this, fix it and make sure it is fixed once and for all, and then we can go fly safely for the rest of the program." [lien] [EN]

NASA Unlikely to Launch Shuttle Atlantis on January 10

While NASA engineers are still unsure when it will be safe to launch space shuttle Atlantis on its long-awaited mission to the International Space Station, they are optimistic that a fix to the problem delaying lift off is just weeks away. But a new round of tests and procedures that NASA is planning almost certainly means that the January 10 launch date the agency had hoped for just weeks ago is not going to happen. Space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale told reporters on Thursday that that engineers will remove wiring and components of an oversized electrical socket on the outside of Atlantis' fuel tank on Saturday for analysis and repair. "This is probably going to not allow us to fly on Jan. 10," Hale said. "We're probably going to be a little bit after that." A few extra days, or possibly weeks, will be required to complete the troubleshooting work, he added. Atlantis' flight to the space has been delayed since December, when fuel gauge-like sensors failed during two separate launch attempts. The sensors are vital safety systems, serving as a failsafe to shut down a shuttle's three main engines before their fuel supply runs out. Running the engines on a dry tank could lead to catastrophe. The current "no-earlier-than" Jan. 10 launch date was announced before engineers had a good idea of what might be needed to fix the problem. But engineers are now confident that the problem lies within electrical connectors that link wires from low fuel sensors at the bottom of the shuttle’s external tank to the shuttle’s onboard computers. Engineers will remove the pass-through connector's central plug and exterior wiring for additional tests in early January, Hale said. "After the first of the year, when we start getting the first of these lab reports in, we will begin to have a handle on our no earlier than launch date," he added. Hale said that his goal was to get Atlantis ready to fly as soon as possible, but in order to do that NASA had to be sure that it found the "root cause" of the problem and made the right fix. [lien] [EN]

Shuttle launch(es) delayed again

Sentinel Space Editor Robert Block just phoned this in: NASA still doesn't know when it will be able to launch shuttle Atlantis -- or the date of the other four launches that had been scheduled for 2008. In a press conference Thursday, engineers said that Atlantis -- whose Dec. 6 launch was scrubbed because of problems with fuel sensors -- now won't launch before Jan. 24 at the earliest, and more likely some time in February. That, in turn, will delay the scheduled February launch of Endeavor -- and could have a domino effect on the three other launches scheduled for later in the year. [lien] [EN]

Mono Beta Launch

42 Responses to “Mono BetaLaunch” · 1 Aeper Jie Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:16 PM PST Sweet. This should be fun to test..any tg enabled zones? · 2 Khamon Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:16 PM PST /clap · 3 Wayfinder Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:18 PM PST While I am all for anything that makes SL run faster and LSL work better, seems there is a lot of things being added to a system that is having trouble at the most basic levels (chat, inventory, teleporting, asset servers, group notices, logging in, etc etc). Same complaint has gone on for the last 3 years: new stuff is fine, but fix the foundation before painting the walls. · 4 Indigo Mertel Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:20 PM PST Great news! · 5 william Fish Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:23 PM PST mono regions? mono land prices? I’d expect mono lands to be more then islands. WTG lindens. is there a chance… even a 1 in a million chance… that all lands in SL could change over to mono in the future? · 6 Zi Ree Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:27 PM PST Oh, sweet! I’m going to check it out as soon as I can! · 7 Argent Stonecutter Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:27 PM PST Folks, they’re talking about the Beta grid. Some regions are Havok 1, some are Havok 4, some are Mono. · 8 ac14 Hutson Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:31 PM PST will we need to learn a new language or is it just the system that runs lsl and i wonder what new functions will be added · 9 S. T. Dee Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:38 PM PST I don’t have Mono yet, how do I get it? · 10 Blogland Oh Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:38 PM PST Hello Indigo!! Freaking fantastic!! I can’t wait to play!! · 11 Indigo Mertel Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:39 PM PST #3: Wayfinder, Mono and Havoc4 are part of LL effort to stabilize the system. More efficient software will reduce load and make the grid more stable, in addition to bringing new features. I applaude LL for doing what they do. · 12 thegrimmling Snook Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:39 PM PST Hey, I am posting this here seeing you guys stopped taking comments on the upgrade (laughs at that term) to the servers. It is 5:45pm EST and I still cannot get on SL….fix it now!!!! · 13 Captain Noarlunga Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:40 PM PST I guess if scripts run faster under MONO then the TP crashes that a lot of ppl are experiencing will happen before you leave your start location…so you will not be stuck in the middle…. I just wish LL would acknowledge the existing persistent problems, list them on a blog and then come up with a real action plan to fix them. Crash on TP, Shoes and Hair up Ass would be a great start. · 14 Zha Ewry Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:41 PM PST Its just the runtime. The first pass of Mono is just a faster, better runtime. And. Read what Argent said @7. - Zha · 15 McCabe Maxsted Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:42 PM PST WOOOHOOO! I’m so there · 16 Shai Khalifa Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:43 PM PST Well I hope Mono is more stable on the grid than Havok4 has proven for me. I opted into the Early Adoptors program and my sim has crashed constantly for no reason, and lag is horrendous. Along with the various other very annoying little things - I’ve requested a reversion to Havok1 - at least the sim stayed up on that - unless LL pulled it down of course. · 17 Emondrell Raymaker Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:45 PM PST Woot! Finally. Here’s hoping it has a fast, quality beta run Can’t wait for faster scriptspeeds and increased flexibility… · 18 Emondrell Raymaker Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:52 PM PST [downloads] I was unable to connect to a Beta server. Do Teen Grid residents no longer have a Beta Grid? · 19 Captain Noarlunga Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:53 PM PST I think ppl are getting wires crossed here…..Havok 4 is Server code, MONO is a script compiler/runtime; so they aren’t connected really. As LL constantly point out, different teams are involved in implementation of these projects, so in theory, the effort is not being taken away from one area in favour of another. I have Havok4 on one SIM with no reported problems and we have done lots of physics testing there too. The bugs in the viewer (including the basic viewer, RC & Windlight) are not all user or PC related…..which is the first thing LL try to pass you off with…..I run SL on 4 different systems and get the same problems on all … so I think it’s pretty obvious that the problem is not related to individual user configurations….although some problems will be….it just seems that these problems keep coming round every now and again and never seem to get properly fixed or are re-incarnated in new releases. · 20 Cockhoenut Koala Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:53 PM PST Wayfinder: This is another part of the solution to all those problems. Mono will decrease the load on the servers, thus allowing SL to go on and survive at its current level of load. · 21 Cockhoenut Koala Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:54 PM PST Captain Noarlunga: They may be different things, unrelated in the technical sense, but they will both greatly be related to user experience. · 22 Captain Noarlunga Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:56 PM PST @21….agreed……but being able to TP without crashing would be nice….and I dont think either of these is going to help solve that problem…..which a very large percentage are suffering from …. · 23 Henri Beauchamp Says: January 29th, 2008 at 2:57 PM PST Any chance to get the sources of the viewer, so that I could compile one that would suit my needs (I just can’t stand the post 1.18.0.6 UI…) ? · 24 Lostmedia Ares Says: January 29th, 2008 at 3:00 PM PST This could be the biggest advance towards a more stable grid that we have seen since before free memberships . Myself and others look forward to testing this and hope we can get this right ready for roll-out . Good Luck to all involved and lets hope that this is the part of the jigsaw thats been needed to make SL what we have all been waiting for · 25 Zi Ree Says: January 29th, 2008 at 3:07 PM PST A long time ago, someone asked: “So, when do we get Mono?” - The answer was: “The day we get Havok4.” … I guess, this was more prophetic than they anticipated · 26 Kerik Rau Says: January 29th, 2008 at 3:08 PM PST Mono is a server side issue, scripts run on the server only just as Havok4 affects things on the server side. That said, what is up with removing the safe zone in rausch? PLEASE ANNOUNCE CHANGES BEFORE THROWING THEM IN OUR FACE (preferably WEEKS in advance). I guess now I get to look forward to tping in and getting orbited every time. Thanks linden lags. · 27 Ryu Darragh Says: January 29th, 2008 at 3:25 PM PST #19 is right. Problems involved in TP and inventory and all that jazz are purely networking issues. Where they *are* purely server side (and not due to the long chain of internet exchanges between you, the user, and Linden Labs servers), they are due to load balancing, database issues and other issues between the Asset Server Database(s) and the server you are currently hosted on. If the Lindens announce a move from MySQL and UDP to a better system, *then* you can worry about how the aforementioned symptoms will be affected. Wait for the announcements about changes to “local caching of copies of user assets on nearby slave databse servers” and terminology like that. · 28 Patience Masala Says: January 29th, 2008 at 3:26 PM PST Heya, This is good news but I think it is best to wait and make sure it is safe to release it on main grid for a while. Insure that problems like past roll outs of upgrades don’t break things. I’m sure that Havok4 and MONO will greatly increase speed and stability of SL but you have to make sure you impliment it right before getting all carried away and rolling out an update that you think might work. You say it works fine on beta but the main grid isn’t beta. I dunno, just be more careful. People are getting sick of losing stuff. Rausch has always been broken, they need to have some form of admin there. You couldn’t even set home in the home parts on the sims. Anyways, let’s make sure this stuff is working properly before rolling it out on the main grid, if not, DO A BARREL ROLL!!! (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) · 29 Sindy Tsure Says: January 29th, 2008 at 3:28 PM PST Woohoo!!! Go Babbage!!! Also, can I have a bear? · 30 Hanumi Takakura Says: January 29th, 2008 at 3:29 PM PST I thought Mono was a way for RL coders to code in the same way they code irl. Now it looks just like speed-up LSL. I do know that if you get faster and more stable LSL, the real pros will still have the opportunity to bring their true potential to SL. Something they (and we in the users side) have been waiting for long. · 31 RobbyRacoon Says: January 29th, 2008 at 3:35 PM PST “Teleport to a Mono-enabled region”… And those are???? How do we discover these besides trial and error? also, WOOT! · 32 RobbyRacoon Says: January 29th, 2008 at 3:37 PM PST DOH! Nevermind about my previous question. RTFM, huh? · 33 Mono Beta Launch - For Realz this time at Daikon Forge Says: January 29th, 2008 at 3:42 PM PST […] to this post on the Official Second Life Blog: Mono Beta […] · 34 Ralph Doctorow Says: January 29th, 2008 at 3:45 PM PST Great news, keep it up! · 35 Nock Forager Says: January 29th, 2008 at 3:45 PM PST Woot! Beta will have many visitor tonight · 36 Tao Takashi Says: January 29th, 2008 at 3:46 PM PST Guys, you ROCK! · 37 Vincent Nacon Says: January 29th, 2008 at 3:54 PM PST Pardon the language but…. OH BLOODY HELL YEAH! · 38 Creem Says: January 29th, 2008 at 3:58 PM PST Weee played around in a Mono-enabled sandbox, and was able to convert all the scripts in an object to Mono with the simple click of a button as advertised. It seems pretty far from ready (the initial things I noticed were that avatar animation and taking controls wasn’t working), but kudos to the Mono team for getting a public beta out! Now as soon as the Mono sims stop crashing I’ll be sure to narrow my problems comment on Jira… · 39 les Says: January 29th, 2008 at 4:03 PM PST Nice to see this move forward again after falling off the radar. If it does indeed increase script speed by a factor of 70+ then this is pure gold. Turbo bling! I understand that the idea is faster scripts, but does that equate to more overhead? I’m going to make up some work-intensive scripts and slap it around some to find out. (side note : html on a prim. Need it 2 years ago. Can you have it ready by monday?) · 40 sean percival Says: January 29th, 2008 at 4:14 PM PST Congrats, and heres to less lag! Also we created a page for this here: http://www.mahalo.com/Mono_%28Second_Life%29 · 41 Argent Stonecutter Says: January 29th, 2008 at 4:29 PM PST Havok4: once it’s stable, I have great hopes for improvements. Mono: may not be the killer feature it’s expected to be, but should be useful. Just removing arbitrary delays from LSL scripts would be useful too. HTML-on-a-prim: Too dangerous to implement. Really. · 42 Prankster Loon Says: January 29th, 2008 at 4:58 PM PST I want Stereo!! We value free expression. However, stuff that's off-topic, abusive, or otherwise busts the rules will be removed without comment. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Need help? Please visit our Support Page. [lien] [EN]

Hellgate: London Korea's Most Successful Launch [Hellgate: London]

From worst to first! Just last month, Flagship's Hellgate: London made 1UP's list of the top five botched PC game launches of all time, with regular server crashes and people being billed multiple times for premium subscriptions. The Southeast Asian launch went even worse, with Infocomm Asia Holdings nearly wiping all player progress within the first 30 days of launch. It's amazing what a few months can do, because now Hellgate: London is being touted as Korea's most successful online game launch in 3 years. There are over a million active accounts, and the game is the 9th most-played game in the country. Sheesh. "To become the most successful launch in Korea for over three years is an incredible achievement," said Bill Roper, CEO of Flagship Studios. "This milestone wouldn't have been possible for us to achieve without the incredible support of our publishing partner, Hanbitsoft, and our dedicated community in Korea." Wow, that Hanbitsoft must have the most magical marketing team ever! Hit the jump for the press release, which actually contains the words 'Hellgate", 'Successful', and 'Launch', all in the same spot. Flagship Studios' HellgateTM: London Celebrates The Most Successful Online Korean Launch In Three Years San Francisco, CA (April 11th, 2008) - Flagship Studios today announced that its action role-playing game Hellgate: London has become the most successful online video game launch in Korea of the past three years with over 1 million accounts registered within the first two weeks of its open beta test. Hellgate: London is the first online game in over three years to use a monthly subscription business model. After launching the open beta on January 15th, Hellgate: London quickly rose to the ninth most played online game, fifth most popular RPG and most popular online beta game in PC Cafes*, with over 1 million accounts. Hellgate: London was released commercially on February 22nd, and achieved record sales in its first week of presales. "To become the most successful launch in Korea for over three years is an incredible achievement," said Bill Roper, CEO of Flagship Studios. "This milestone wouldn't have been possible for us to achieve without the incredible support of our publishing partner, Hanbitsoft, and our dedicated community in Korea. We look forward to expanding the Hellgate universe and building upon this success in the future." "Flagship Studios are well aware of how the Asian market operates very differently to the Western territories" said Alex Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft, "By listening to players' feedback and through constant updates to the game, Hellgate: London will continue to be an incredible success throughout Asia." Hellgate: London combines the depth of role-playing games and the action of first-person shooter titles, while offering infinite playability with dynamically generated levels, items, enemies, and events. Whether online or off, a player creates a heroic character, completes quests, and battles through innumerable hordes of demons to advance through experience levels and branching skill paths. A robust, flexible skill and spell system, highly customizable appearances, and a massive variety of randomly generated equipment allow players to create their own unique hero. For more information please visit the official Hellgate: London site at www.hellgatelondon.com *According to Gametrics and Game Report [lien] [EN]