NASA lost contact with the interstellar Voyager 1 spacecraft for nearly a week after a technical glitch shut off the probe's main transmitter. Using Voyager's weaker backup transmitter, engineers are assessing the problem from 15 billion miles away.
  • EleventhHour@lemmy.world
    1501·
    5 days ago

    Always have a backup. You may not use it for 43 years, but you’ll be glad it’s there when you do.

    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
      1603·
      5 days ago

      I’m only 41 years old.

      This recievier has been working for my whole life, goes out of service 15 billion miles away, turns on a backup reciever, and is now back in contact with NASA.

      …but the ice cream machine at McDonalds is still broken.

      • roofuskit@lemmy.worldEnglish
        83·
        5 days ago

        Both are by design. The ice cream machine actually just got a DMCA exception so the company that makes it no longer can dictate who repairs it.

      • USNWoodwork@lemmy.world
        28·
        5 days ago

        I’m picturing the Voyager 1 terminal is an ancient computer from the 1970s hooked up to a large parabolic antenna, and everyone is afraid to upgrade it because they might mess something up. I’m sure that’s not the case, but its what lives in my mind.

        Since I was thinking about it I looked up some stuff: “So Voyager-1 does not “really” have a computer, in the sense that it does not have an operating system or RAM or a microprocessor. It was built in the 60s before any of this was invented and used CMOS-based microcontroller chips from Texas Instruments. Overall, it has a 16-bit processor and a MASSIVE memory of 70 KILOBYTES. That is smaller memory than a thumbnail of a phone image today, but it was enough to send images through which we discovered Jupiter has rings and much more.”

        From: https://medium.com/towards-generative-ai/voyager-1-what-computer-system-it-has-that-is-still-running-strong-a269aaea316b

        • bstix@feddit.dk
          7·
          5 days ago

          Although it doesn’t compare to modern systems, the computer systems on Voyager is a computer by all means. It’s even the longest running computer that ever existed, having never been shut off. It runs Fortran code.

          The image data that the camera made didnn’t have to fit in the computers memory. It was written directly to tape, which was then transmitted by the computer. The resolution is 800x800 pixels with only one colour at a time. The colour images or in larger resolutions were combinations of several images. The camera has been shut off by now.

          Speaking of not wanting to touch the code, it did have an issue last year, where the code seemed to have stopped or gone into a loop for unknown reasons making it inaccessible for the operators on Earth. Thankfully another part of the computer was instructed to periodically overwrite the main code, so it managed to correct the error by itself. At least that’s what I remember reading.

        • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          5 days ago

          You can cram a load of machine language into 70K. Seems far more than needed, bet a bunch is for redundancy.

        • catloafEnglish
          2·
          5 days ago

          It’s probably not too far off. The ground station probably uses the same antenna, the computer running it is probably relatively new, but I’m sure there’s some kind of emulation for the control software. Like a Fortran emulator, not like WINE or an old DOS VM.

      • Hugh_Jeggs
        141·
        5 days ago

        Hank, don’t spray WD into your locks, you’re better than that Hank

        • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
          131·
          5 days ago

          1. The guy is in Texas and not cooking over pecan wood. I’m making this point to show that he’s ignorant. That doesn’t mean dumb, it just means he doesn’t know any better.

          2. We all know you shouldn’t use that on your locks these days and can easily Google why. He wasn’t a technology guy and only really knew what he read or what an old guy who didn’t know shit told him. He did things the way he thought was right but he had some pretty big blind spots. Maybe he didn’t know about 3-in-1 oil.

          3. Plus it was a cartoon written by people who probably didn’t know any better and I’m taking both that fact and your comment far too seriously (or I’m just making an elaborate joke, that’s for the reader to decide).

          • Hugh_Jeggs
            131·
            5 days ago

            In case you’re wondering, the correct substance is graphite powder

            • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
              3·
              5 days ago

              Yep, I had completely forgotten about graphite because I was looking at my 3-in-1 oil at the time. My mistake, and I’m leaving it to show my own hubris and blind spots, much like the Texan pictured above.

  • uservoid1@lemmy.worldEnglish
    761·
    5 days ago

    Every few months there is a similar such story about this ancient marvel of technology and the people remotely maintaining it against all odds.

    I can imagine a headline 100 years from now:

    “Engineers are modifying Voyager 1 decorative panel bolt into a functional interstellar communicator”

    • Classy@sh.itjust.works
      271·
      5 days ago

      each line of code is transmitted over a bandwidth that only supports 1/2 a bit, and it takes 3.5 years to reach the Voyager

    • whaleross@lemmy.world
      11·
      4 days ago

      A hacker has hijacked the communication relay and managed to install Doom on the Voyager. The game runs perfectly but the user interface is reported to be somewhat laggy.

  • Allonzee@lemmy.world
    251·
    5 days ago

    Humans will be extinct, and Voyager will still be carrying our mixtape through eternity.

      • Zier@fedia.io
        11·
        5 days ago

        We need to start a new prank. People should randomly start phone conversations with, “This is a collect call from Richard, do you accept the charges?”., when you phone a friend. It’s funny because no one does collect calls on cell phones. It’s ironic & stupid at the same time.

      • lemmyknow@lemmy.todayEnglish
        41·
        5 days ago

        You have a collect call from: daddy fine Nebraska cornfields Chris garbage hang up

  • TachyonTele
    47·
    5 days ago

    It’s sad it’ll probably lose contact relatively soon. Does anyone know if there are any plans for a new long distance probe?

    • roofuskit@lemmy.worldEnglish
      55·
      5 days ago

      They’re already out there. Just don’t get as much news as Voyager. Unfortunately I don’t think any will be capable of lasting as long since we stopped using the radio isotope generators. New horizons is currently in the Kupier belt. It’s the 5th such probe to reach escape velocity from our solar system. Pioneer 10 and 11 were the other non-voyager probes.

      Edit: I was incorrect, new horizons does use an RTG for power. But right now its mission is slated to end in 2029. I wonder if it will be kept alive like the Voyager probes.

      Edit 2: yeah, the RTG is slated to run out of power to run the transmitters in the 2030s. It was originally designed to be more powerful but the DOE delayed delivery of the plutonium 238 required.

    • luves2spooge@lemmy.world
      19·
      5 days ago

      I think for the Voyager launches the planets and the sun were aligned in such a way that the probes could be slingshotted around them to gain speed. I think such an alignment is quite rare?

      • BakerBagel@midwest.social
        171·
        5 days ago

        It’s a bit more complicated than that. New Horizons actually went way faster than the Voyager probes, getting to Pluto in only 9.5 years. It took Voyager 2 just slightly longer than 12 years to reach Neptune for comparison. The planetary alignment you are thinking about was due to relative proximity. Obviously you can’t use Saturn to slingshot you to Uranus if they are on opposite sides of the solar system. All the outer planets were going to be on the same side of the solar system, allowing the Voyager probes to visit them all in succession.

      • bstix@feddit.dk
        3·
        5 days ago

        It only happens every 400 years or so.

        It’s pretty crazy to think about. The Voyager mission isn’t just a big thing for the current generations, but also for many future generations, who will not have as good an opportunity.