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On HN I would have expected more people to be super excited about the on-board computers, instruments, and particularly the RF subsystem on the voyager spacecra
by vbtemp 15y ago
On HN I would have expected more people to be super excited about the on-board computers, instruments, and particularly the RF subsystem on the voyager spacecraft (think about it - it's something like a 40 watt transmitter -- the strengh of a lightbulb -- radiating between 10 and 10000 bits a second back to earth 11 billion miles away). AND the round-trip latency is 26 hours! Recently they had to do a marathon debug session to discover a bit-error in the memory http://www.space.com/8355-problem-detected-voyager-2-spacecraft-edge-solar-system.html http://www.space.com/8355-problem-detected-voyager-2-spacecr...
Everyone just seems so caught up about this whole alien thing. Come on guys, there are serious things to get excited about here.
- sek 15y agoI don't understand much about it, but i am impressed how robust this thing is. Especially when you know the tech industry as it is today, these are complete different design principles. We should focus on faster space gear, so we don't have to wait so long when anything happens to Voyager. Does anybody know something about solar-sails, i heard they can theoretically accelerate to 1/10 light speed.
- vbtemp 15y agoNew Horizons has set the speed record for spaceflight, and is racing toward pluto and will make it in record time. However, its RTG doesn't have the longevity of Voyager's, so New Horizons won't last nearly as long. NH does have an extended mission, but nothing will match the voyagers': the stars and planets -- literally -- aligned, and it's an opportunity that will probably never come again.