The Briefing Room
General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Space => Topic started by: Elderberry on April 23, 2024, 01:02:04 pm
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Scientific American By Meghan Bartels 4/22/2024
NASA scientists spent months coaxing the 46-year-old Voyager 1 spacecraft back into healthy communication
After months of nonsensical transmissions from humanity’s most distant emissary, NASA’s iconic Voyager 1 spacecraft is finally communicating intelligibly with Earth again.
Voyager 1 launched in 1977, zipped past Jupiter and Saturn within just a few years and has been trekking farther from our sun ever since; the craft crossed into interstellar space in 2012. But in mid-November 2023 Voyager 1’s data transmissions became garbled, sending NASA engineers on a slow quest to troubleshoot the distant spacecraft. Finally, that work has paid off, and NASA has clear information on the probe’s health and status, the agency announced on April 22.
“It’s the most serious issue we’ve had since I’ve been the project manager, and it’s scary because you lose communication with the spacecraft,” said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in an interview with Scientific American when the team was still tracking down the issue.
More: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/after-months-of-gibberish-voyager-1-is-communicating-well-again/ (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/after-months-of-gibberish-voyager-1-is-communicating-well-again/)
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That is amazing.
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All using 1977 technology... Very amazing...
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AM and FM! ... battery not included ..
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/m2MAAOSwRcNl0~Tl/s-l960.jpg)(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/~YcAAOSw1BRltBx~/s-l1600.jpg)
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All using 1977 technology... Very amazing...
Being launched in 1977, it was most likely late 1960's technology.
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Voyager 1 has three radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) mounted on a boom. Each MHW-RTG contains 24 pressed plutonium-238 oxide spheres. The RTGs generated about 470 W of electric power at the time of launch, with the remainder being dissipated as waste heat.
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15 billion miles out and still working. Wow!
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Who says that VGER might not have gotten a little help. :cool:
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d0/55/e3/d055e3ed4be920fa1803d28290b0bb33.jpg)
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15 billion miles out and still working. Wow!
Ah, the good old days when we made things to last :crying:
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Ah, the good old days when we made things to last :crying:
like its amazing how we got to the moon on 1969 technology
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After months of nonsensical transmissions from humanity’s most distant emissary, NASA’s iconic Voyager 1 spacecraft is finally communicating intelligibly with Earth again.
Could you try the fix on Biden?
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All using 1977 technology... Very amazing...
Considering your smart watch probably has more computing power nowadays...
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After Months of Gibberish, Voyager 1 Is Communicating Well Again
It should be renamed to Fetterman 1. wink777
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Considering your smart watch probably has more computing power nowadays...
I believe it has (the Voyager computer) 70 kB of memory. My first PC in the early 80's had 64 kB of memory. The CPU has 64 instructions (6 bits). A remote for your TV has considerably more horsepower...
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My first computer was the SYM-1 with all of 4 KB of RAM.
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My first computer was the SYM-1 with all of 4 KB of RAM.
That predates my first working with a CPU which I wire-wrapped together in the late 70's. It was Z80 with fuse link ROM... I don't fully remember but I think it had 128 bytes of RAM. Did the programming on a big piece of graph paper in machine language... Made a touch tone phone dialer with it. You could press # key followed by two more keys to speed dial someone...
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I believe it has (the Voyager computer) 70 kB of memory.
Is there any device anymore that only has 70kB of memory? Can't think of any. Even the tiniest sensors or such I can see having far more than that.
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Considering your smart watch probably has more computing power nowadays...
It does, by far!
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Is there any device anymore that only has 70kB of memory? Can't think of any. Even the tiniest sensors or such I can see having far more than that.
Maybe a garage door fob...
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But in mid-November 2023 Voyager 1’s data transmissions became garbled, sending NASA engineers on a slow quest to troubleshoot the distant spacecraft.
&@%$! Windows updates.