3 ms·

It's amazing these projects began over 50 years ago in 1972 when 8-track tapes still dominated cassettes for music delivery.

viking66 3y ago
It must be so rewarding for the engineers on these projects when so many years later their work is validated.
- mark-r 3y ago
  That's if any of them are still alive! This was so long ago that a good proportion may no longer be with us.
andyjohnson0 3y ago
Perhaps you know this already, but Voyager 2 actually uses an tape recorder for data storage. I assume that all other options were either too fragile or too expensive back when it was built. The vehicle records flight and sensor data to tape, and then periodically broadcasts that back to earth. As of 2022 the tape drive appears to be still working [1]. [1] https://space.stackexchange.com/a/15291 https://space.stackexchange.com/a/15291
- prox 3y ago
  Absolutely amazing work! Wow!
- LeoPanthera 3y ago
  I believe tape was chosen mostly for capacity reasons. The Voyager DTR can store 109 megabytes, which was impractically large for any other storage medium.
- malfist 3y ago
  I thought the tape drive was shut down to conserve power?
glimshe 3y ago
I wonder if current technology can achieve the same level of reliability. For software, I fear complexity would make it much harder to build something that works for 50+ years, the probability of some nasty long term overflow bug or slow memory leak would make that difficult.
- inapis 3y ago
  I don't think there's anything, besides economics, preventing current technology to achieve the same reliability.
- constantcrying 3y ago
  >I wonder if current technology can achieve the same level of reliability. Yes, although that is very rarely a design goal. >For software, I fear complexity would make it much harder to build something that works for 50+ years, the probability of some nasty long term overflow bug or slow memory leak would make that difficult. Not that hard to handle. You just need to setup an appropriate architecture. In Aeronautic software systems you often have forced resets, if the software is not reaching certain points of exrcution. You also do not have memory leaks, since you do not have dynamic memory.
- ThrowawayTestr 3y ago
  Write it in x86 and I promise it'll work in 50 years.
JKCalhoun 3y ago
Amazing it happened at all. Some scientists determined that 1977 allowed a once-in-a-millennia planetary alignment and pushed to get NASA money to send a prob. It was touch and go as to whether the funds would be allocated and if there would even be time to get it into the proper trajectory in time.

viking66 3y ago

It must be so rewarding for the engineers on these projects when so many years later their work is validated.

mark-r 3y ago
That's if any of them are still alive! This was so long ago that a good proportion may no longer be with us.

andyjohnson0 3y ago

Perhaps you know this already, but Voyager 2 actually uses an tape recorder for data storage. I assume that all other options were either too fragile or too expensive back when it was built. The vehicle records flight and sensor data to tape, and then periodically broadcasts that back to earth. As of 2022 the tape drive appears to be still working [1]. [1] https://space.stackexchange.com/a/15291 https://space.stackexchange.com/a/15291

prox 3y ago
Absolutely amazing work! Wow!
LeoPanthera 3y ago
I believe tape was chosen mostly for capacity reasons. The Voyager DTR can store 109 megabytes, which was impractically large for any other storage medium.
malfist 3y ago
I thought the tape drive was shut down to conserve power?

glimshe 3y ago

I wonder if current technology can achieve the same level of reliability. For software, I fear complexity would make it much harder to build something that works for 50+ years, the probability of some nasty long term overflow bug or slow memory leak would make that difficult.

inapis 3y ago
I don't think there's anything, besides economics, preventing current technology to achieve the same reliability.
constantcrying 3y ago
>I wonder if current technology can achieve the same level of reliability. Yes, although that is very rarely a design goal. >For software, I fear complexity would make it much harder to build something that works for 50+ years, the probability of some nasty long term overflow bug or slow memory leak would make that difficult. Not that hard to handle. You just need to setup an appropriate architecture. In Aeronautic software systems you often have forced resets, if the software is not reaching certain points of exrcution. You also do not have memory leaks, since you do not have dynamic memory.
ThrowawayTestr 3y ago
Write it in x86 and I promise it'll work in 50 years.

JKCalhoun 3y ago

Amazing it happened at all. Some scientists determined that 1977 allowed a once-in-a-millennia planetary alignment and pushed to get NASA money to send a prob. It was touch and go as to whether the funds would be allocated and if there would even be time to get it into the proper trajectory in time.