The Loyal Engineers Steering NASA’s Voyager Probes Across the Universe • Hacker News Board

Re: The Loyal Engineers Steering NASA’s Voyager Probes Across the Universe

#51

Post by seasonalgrit » Fri, Aug 04, 2017, 11:51 PM UTC

dingo_bat wrote: post #19

How do you retain such talented people for such a long time? These people could get jobs in the most cutting-edge company in their respective fields. Still they choose to stay at the same place for decades.

I guess it depends on one's definition of cutting-edge . . .

> 'The data the probes are collecting are challenging fundamental physics and will provide clues to the biggest of questions: Why did our sun give birth to life only here? Where else, within our solar system or others, are we most likely to find evidence that we are not alone?'

Re: The Loyal Engineers Steering NASA’s Voyager Probes Across the Universe

#52

Post by mturmon » Sat, Aug 05, 2017, 3:49 AM UTC

secstate wrote: post #27

wjnc wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me the article has a somewhat sad component (next to technological awesomeness): "In retirement, Zottarelli told me, he would like to see Florida again. He wonders how it has changed. In his garage is a 1954 Swallow Doretti, a fixer-upper. ‘‘It probably needs new brakes,’’ he said. I asked him if there was anywhere he liked to drive for fun. ‘‘No,’’ he replied. ‘‘Not anymore.’’" Imagine that's your grandfather. W…

That's a really well made point. And for what it's worth, stoicism doesn't ask you to never travel or have fun :) The most depressing line for me was him effectively waiting (albeit in a joking manner) for his second stroke. No one should be worked to the point of fatalism. On the one hand I love the team's dedication. On the other hand, I don't think it's just competitive pay that keeps young engineers out of that o…

The younger engineers ar JPL might rather work on Mars 2020: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mars-2020/

One of the proposed instruments is a 1kg helicopter.

*

They have tried to build a pipeline with the Mars exploration missions, in which senior people can move from mission to mission, and younger people can train up on older, mature missions before they move to newer ones.

This pipeline did not really exist with the Voyagers.

Re: The Loyal Engineers Steering NASA’s Voyager Probes Across the Universe

#53

Post by askvictor » Sat, Aug 05, 2017, 9:50 AM UTC

user5994461 wrote: post #48

laydn wrote: post #4

You know, getting these electronics systems ready, sending out to deep space and communicating with these systems is an incredible feat. But, for me, another amazing thing about these long term projects is the sheer amount of knowledge that needs to be maintained and passed on to new people, over the course of several decades. To pull it off, this need of knowledge management and transfer must be so deeply engraved i…

>>> How do they do it in this day and age of "FAQs", "Forums" and "Helpdesks"? :) The secret: Employee retention. Everything is easier when the knowledge stays in the company.

Easier, yes, but that still doesn't solve the problem over the course of decades; in fact if that is your primary strategy, then you're going to be completely fscked as an organisation when someone _does_ leave (or dies). Employee retention might make things a little quicker to find, but is downright negligent as an institutional knowledge strategy.

Re: The Loyal Engineers Steering NASA’s Voyager Probes Across the Universe

#54

Post by InternetOfStuff » Mon, Aug 07, 2017, 8:55 AM UTC

NikolaeVarius wrote: post #10

marsRoverDev wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To give some kind of context on more "modern" methods, we use stupendous numbers of PDFs, DOORS for requirements traceability and tons of code commenting. At last count our project had 0.73 commenting lines per line of code (and we use Allman style bracketing). We are also putting non mission-critical information in a Wiki; basically as a tl;dr of the more dense documentation.

Oh man, I hated DOORS so much. POS software. I dont doubt its useful, but using it was the bane of my existance

Heh, DOORS is pretty crappy. But once you get used to its flavour of crappiness, you can get shit done.

I think it's one of those tools which demand a lot of expertise in setting them up, or you will paint yourself in a corner, with explosive paint.