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> But an engineer with the agency’s Deep Space Network, which operates the radio antennas that communicate with both Voyagers and other spacecraft traveling to

by ndiddy 3y ago

> But an engineer with the agency’s Deep Space Network, which operates the radio antennas that communicate with both Voyagers and other spacecraft traveling to the Moon and beyond, was able to decode the new signal and found that it contains a readout of the entire FDS memory. The FDS memory includes its code, or instructions for what to do, as well as variables, or values used in the code that can change based on commands or the spacecraft’s status. It also contains science or engineering data for downlink. Does this mean that someone could set up an antenna and get a copy of the Voyager software? Might be cool to see.

sidewndr46 3y ago
Yes. It would also need to be enormous and use the same type of supercooled receiver.
CamperBob2 3y ago
It's possible to receive signals from some spacecraft with reasonable amateur-level antennas, but not this one, sadly. You'd be lucky to get a photon every day or two.
colechristensen 3y ago
You would need a dish measured in tens of meters across. When you were done you’d have a decent radio telescope.
malfist 3y ago
Technically yes. But currently you need a 70 meter (230 foot) dish to hear/talk to it. To talk back to voyager, DSS43 uses 75kw to transmit, so you might have to have a commercial account with your local power company.
shagie 3y ago
> Does this mean that someone could set up an antenna and get a copy of the Voyager software? Might be cool to see. DSN NOW is neat to watch - and sometimes you see VGR1 and its related data https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html And since no one is talking with it, I'm going to find a screen shot. https://space.stackexchange.com/q/17430 https://space.stackexchange.com/q/17430 The DATA feed (at 159 baud - bits per second) is being received at -157.95 dBm ... seven years ago. 1.6 x 10^-22 kW. This is getting into the realm where noise will dominate the signal. https://www.seti.org/detecting-voyager-1-ata https://www.seti.org/detecting-voyager-1-ata > The above assumes a receiver temperature of 120 Kelvin at 8.4 GHz. The receiver temperature could have also been measured using the quasar observation, but the 120 Kelvin figure is not far from reality given previous measurements. The Allen Telescope Array is probably the 'cheapest' way to detect the signal. > The telescope comprises 42 fully-steerable 6.1m-diameter telescopes, of which ~20 are fitted with wideband cryogenically cooled feeds. For comparison, liquid nitrogen is 77 Kelvin. They were able to detect the signal - but in that diagonal chart, note how difficult it is to see the diagonal from the visual noise. That is only detecting the signal - not decoding it.
- shagie 3y ago
  As I write this now, VGR1 and VGR2 are both showing up on DSN NOW. https://imgur.com/6bgg3Uj https://imgur.com/6bgg3Uj This brings up another issue. The DNS network is spread across Goldstone, Madrid, and Canberra allowing for continuous tracking of a spacecraft. A single site would only be able to get a fraction of the broadcast or may be out of position for a repeating broadcast.

by ndiddy 3y ago

sidewndr46 3y ago

Yes. It would also need to be enormous and use the same type of supercooled receiver.

CamperBob2 3y ago

It's possible to receive signals from some spacecraft with reasonable amateur-level antennas, but not this one, sadly. You'd be lucky to get a photon every day or two.

colechristensen 3y ago

You would need a dish measured in tens of meters across. When you were done you’d have a decent radio telescope.

malfist 3y ago

Technically yes. But currently you need a 70 meter (230 foot) dish to hear/talk to it. To talk back to voyager, DSS43 uses 75kw to transmit, so you might have to have a commercial account with your local power company.

shagie 3y ago

> Does this mean that someone could set up an antenna and get a copy of the Voyager software? Might be cool to see. DSN NOW is neat to watch - and sometimes you see VGR1 and its related data https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html And since no one is talking with it, I'm going to find a screen shot. https://space.stackexchange.com/q/17430 https://space.stackexchange.com/q/17430 The DATA feed (at 159 baud - bits per second) is being received at -157.95 dBm ... seven years ago. 1.6 x 10^-22 kW. This is getting into the realm where noise will dominate the signal. https://www.seti.org/detecting-voyager-1-ata https://www.seti.org/detecting-voyager-1-ata > The above assumes a receiver temperature of 120 Kelvin at 8.4 GHz. The receiver temperature could have also been measured using the quasar observation, but the 120 Kelvin figure is not far from reality given previous measurements. The Allen Telescope Array is probably the 'cheapest' way to detect the signal. > The telescope comprises 42 fully-steerable 6.1m-diameter telescopes, of which ~20 are fitted with wideband cryogenically cooled feeds. For comparison, liquid nitrogen is 77 Kelvin. They were able to detect the signal - but in that diagonal chart, note how difficult it is to see the diagonal from the visual noise. That is only detecting the signal - not decoding it.

shagie 3y ago
As I write this now, VGR1 and VGR2 are both showing up on DSN NOW. https://imgur.com/6bgg3Uj https://imgur.com/6bgg3Uj This brings up another issue. The DNS network is spread across Goldstone, Madrid, and Canberra allowing for continuous tracking of a spacecraft. A single site would only be able to get a fraction of the broadcast or may be out of position for a repeating broadcast.