Live data from Hacker News

NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away

bgr.com

11–20 of 326 posts

Re: NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away

#11
post #8

I hope they will publish firmware/source code at some point in the future. It would be definitely interesting to look into.

I suspect they can’t. It is quite possible security was not on anyone’s mind back then and the last thing they want are rouge signals from some amateur fucking up generations worth of work.

That is true now, but maybe once the probes go completely dead with no chance of revival and there is no risk of tampering?

Re: NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away

#12
post #5

I don’t understand why we are not sending these off in every direction constantly. The price can’t possibly be that prohibitive considering what we can accomplish with 40 year old technology.

The equivalent of about 4 billion dollars in modern day money for both of them. That, plus waiting for some very opportune launch times so that we can gravity boost off of everything.

Those gravitational boosts are vital.

The closest in speed so far would be 'New Horizons'. But even then NH is going at 14.5KM/sec compared with Voyagers 18KM/sec. There are no probes currently that would catch up to Voyager.

Re: NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away

#13

Love the Voyagers story. Just get me thinking: Why there is not more missions like this ? It takes significant time to cross "somewhere there", every year one launch could not hurt ? Edit: *Obligatory video: "Uptime 15,364 days - The Computers of Voyager" by Aaron Cummings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H62hZJVqs2o Also here on HN: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=voyager

The Interstellar Probe is something the Johns Hopkins APL has been proposing. I don't think its been funded yet.

https://interstellarprobe.jhuapl.edu/Interstellar-Probe-Exec...

Re: NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away

#14

Love the Voyagers story. Just get me thinking: Why there is not more missions like this ? It takes significant time to cross "somewhere there", every year one launch could not hurt ? Edit: *Obligatory video: "Uptime 15,364 days - The Computers of Voyager" by Aaron Cummings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H62hZJVqs2o Also here on HN: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=voyager

The answer is money.

Starship will both greatly reduce the cost to orbit, and the cost to design spacecraft (far wider mass budgets). I do not know how much C3 it will have, but very likely a kicker stage will come along for interplanetary and possibly interstellar craft.

Re: NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away

#15
post #8

I hope they will publish firmware/source code at some point in the future. It would be definitely interesting to look into.

I suspect they can’t. It is quite possible security was not on anyone’s mind back then and the last thing they want are rouge signals from some amateur fucking up generations worth of work.

I highly doubt an amateur has the means to contact the probes. Heck, I'm not even sure any organization besides NASA has antennas big enough for the job.

Re: NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away

#17

Love the Voyagers story. Just get me thinking: Why there is not more missions like this ? It takes significant time to cross "somewhere there", every year one launch could not hurt ? Edit: *Obligatory video: "Uptime 15,364 days - The Computers of Voyager" by Aaron Cummings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H62hZJVqs2o Also here on HN: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=voyager

Because the program literally depended on the planets aligning a certain way that they won't align again until about 2150.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_program#History

Re: NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away

#18
post #5

I don’t understand why we are not sending these off in every direction constantly. The price can’t possibly be that prohibitive considering what we can accomplish with 40 year old technology.

Because there are windows to visit certain planets, especially with modern rockets. You can't just point them in the direction of a planet and yeet them into space; there is physics involved.
Post reply on HN