To a spacecraft and to whoever else was listening.
NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away
21–30 of 326 posts
Re: NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away
#22This is simply dope! I know this comment doesn't add value, but still, Pluto is "only" 4.5 billion miles away from sun at its farthest point and it takes 247 years to loop around the sun.
I think you mean 4.5 billion miles.
Re: NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away
#23This is simply dope! I know this comment doesn't add value, but still, Pluto is "only" 4.5 billion miles away from sun at its farthest point and it takes 247 years to loop around the sun.
Pretty sure you got one of those measurements horribly wrong
Re: NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away
#24Were unit tests a thing back when the probes were built?
I wonder how new engineers learn about the intricacies of such ancient tech, without breaking them.
Re: NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away
#25I hope this update doesn't come with ads and data collection to "improve my experience"
Re: NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away
#26How much is that in metric units?
Re: NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away
#27I 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.
I used to think this until I learned how our solar system moves around the galactic core. Truth is, space is wild. We're like the equivalent of stone age people standing on the shore of the atlantic looking out wondering if we can make it out there. Except the ground beneath us is also moving through the ocean at fantastic speeds, causing huge waves in our wake.
This is a huge oversimplification by a layperson, but just as ancient seafarers had to escape the currents caused near their shore, we have to figure out how to escape our solar system first, into interstellar space. You're not safe there, but at least you've exited the wake of our sun. Just like we had to exit the graviational pull of earth to reach the moon.
Re: NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away
#28This is simply dope! I know this comment doesn't add value, but still, Pluto is "only" 4.5 billion miles away from sun at its farthest point and it takes 247 years to loop around the sun.
Pluto is 3.7 billion miles away, not "light years". New Horizons probe wouldn't have taken "only" 11 years to reach Pluto otherwise.
Re: NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
You don't think a modified DirecTV antenna will do it?
Re: NASA just sent a software update to a spacecraft 12B miles away
#30Windows 11
The cumulative patch.