Technologies in 2001: A Space Odyssey well, such as a nervous breakdown—as Hal did in the film. Clarke noted that, contrary to popular rumor, it was a complete coincidence that each of the letters of Hal's name immediately preceded those of IBM in the alphabet. The meaning of HAL has been given both as "Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer" and as "Heuristic ALgorithmic computer". The former appears in Clarke's novel of "2001" and the latter in his sequel novel "2010". In computer science, a heuristic is a programmable procedure not necessarily based on fixed rules, producing informed guesses often using trial-and-error. The results can be false such
Odyssey Space Research Odyssey Space Research Odyssey Space Research, LLC is a small business based in Houston, Texas near NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center providing engineering research and analysis services. This start-up in the space industry founded in November 2003 has already won major contracts and is the only private company working on the 5 next human-rated spacecraft (ATV, HTV, CEV, and both COTS spacecraft with SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation). June 9, 2011 Odyssey Space Research, L.L.C., announced a space-based, experimental app, dubbed SpaceLab for iOS, which will be used for space research aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The SpaceLab