NASA’s 46-year-old Voyager 1 spacecraft has experienced a computer glitch that prevents it from returning science data to Earth from the solar system’s outer reaches.
NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has experienced a computer glitch that’s causing a bit of a communication breakdown between the 46-year-old probe and its mission team on Earth.
For those who didn’t read the article, voyager 1 is still sending and transmitting data. It’s stuck in a loop sending the same packets to Earth on repeat but it is receiving commands just fine. It’s not completely dark.
That's fantastic, that means all they have to do is reset some components and it should restore functionality. I say should, it's still a scary thing to turn on/off components om a satellite bcz you aren't guaranteed they'll come on. Nasa people usually prefer soft resets to hard resets of components, but we'll see what happens.
One of the satellites I worked on had to have a software update to do a soft reset of a component every time it tried to write certain data. It was really scary bcz we thought we had lost one of our redundancies right after launch, which would have sucked.
But, we didn't. Anyway, just wanted to give a little bit of insight into what the FOT might be thinking about while they're trying to recover the satellite to nominal state.
Yeah I got very sad when I saw the headline and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Voyager 1’s death will be far sadder than most public figures. Maybe any.
Same, for a moment I was really concerned. Voyager is like a lifetime achievement for humanity at this point. When it stops communicating its going to be a big loss for the scientific community, and population as a whole. I'm not looking forward to hearing about its loss of functionality in the next decade or so.
I think when we have space based fuel and fabrication infrastructure we'll be able to make some interesting projects, some huge thing that just burns its rockets at full power through the solar system.
Or a very robust probe fired from a giant nuclear cannon on the dark side of the moon. If you start the journey at top speed that cuts out all the acceleration time, we could have stuff popping off in every direction.
I really can't say, I'm not privy to any of the outer solar system projects that might be in the works. Voyager was originally intended to do flyby of the outer planets, and then it headed out of the solar system. I think the trajectory was always designed with the idea that it could exit the solar system. As far as I'm aware, we've done a few missions to asteroids, but nothing that is going out to do flyby of the outer planets. But, I could be wrong, don't take my word for it. All of the stuff I have worked on has been near earth, or pointing away from the earth but still within the vicinity of L1 and L2 Lagrange points.
You'd be surprised how many missions nasa has in the works at any one time.
Me: Summarize projects active as of early 2022 involving plans to send objects out of the solar system
ChatGPT (v4)
Voyager 1 and 2: Continuing their journey, both launched in the 1970s. They are studying the outer solar system and interstellar space.
New Horizons: After its Pluto flyby, it's on an extended mission to explore the Kuiper Belt and beyond.
Pioneer 10 and 11: Although no longer sending data, they continue to travel out of the solar system.
Interstellar Probe Study: A NASA conceptual study for a mission to explore the interstellar medium.
Breakthrough Starshot Initiative: A research and engineering project aiming to develop a proof-of-concept fleet of light sail spacecraft, capable of making the journey to Alpha Centauri.
NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Programs: Some concepts under study, such as solar sails and fusion propulsion, could potentially send craft out of the solar system.
These projects represent a blend of ongoing missions, conceptual studies, and advanced propulsion research with potential applications for future interstellar travel.
So the title did its job which is you understand nothing until you enter their site, drive traffic, display ads, and possibly collect your data in the process.
Sure and Lemmy did its work by letting me and others relay the info. I hate ads as much as the next guy, especially targeted ads, but the internet is free and I don’t pay CNN a dime so I’ll take the hit for you this time. Next time, you click the clickbait and fill us in ☺️
My point is the title in journalism went from a summary of the story to a confusing false statement that might give you a hint of what the story is about.
In this story the title is clearly saying Voyager has stopped communicating with Earth which is false.
My point is the title in journalism went from a summary of the story to a confusing false statement that might give you a hint of what the story is about.
This is what we get when nobody wants to pay for news anymore. The fact that news media had to turn to ad-funded models is the fault of everybody who refuses to pay for their news
Ideally it was an update issue and it's fixable. However I wouldn't be surprised if there was a hardware failure due to radiation or something similar. That said, Voyager1 has power only until 2025 or so, since RTGs are designed to last that much. So even if the issue is fixed, its life will only expand by few years. Also, the fact it relies on nuclear power means none of the new stuff will last as long since they stopped using them some time ago due to fear from nuclear energy.
Am thinking people were mostly worried if rocket explodes during liftoff. Then again people also are completely clueless about radiation in general, especially smokers.
As a smoker: I'm not clueless, I just don't love myself more than the addiction. But I'm getting there, cause breathing "easily" is an under-rated pleasure, when compared to... not breathing that well
It can take time to break the mental stuff before breaking the habit, regardless of understood risk
Now magnets though... I'm at a complete fucking loss
My point is that not many people know that tobacco contains lead-210 and polonium-210. This is why waping is safer, even though it still carries health risks it doesn't have radioactive elements which deposit in your lungs. And it's not a negligible amount of radiation. You'd be safer living next to Chernobyl plant before it was contained than smoking a pack a day. Do yourself a favor and switch to electronic stuff.
One of the main people who raised concern about rockets full of nuclear material exploding above populated areas was mitchio kaku. He certainly has a good few clues about radiation and nuclear physics.
RTGs are still used for outer solar system missions. Not enough light for solar panels. Hell, even the Perseverance Mars rover, which was launched in 2020, has an RTG.