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

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

#321

Post by ravenstine »

paulddraper wrote: post #313
ravenstine wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, but what would they gain by this exactly? Aha! Now you'll have to wait another 40 years to collect information from deep space! Take THAT, Americans!

> Maybe, but what would they gain by this exactly? It's called the Space Race for a reason.

It'd be one thing if those probes remained in near-space. There are of course advantages to a country having its own exclusive information strategically and possibly for future space-mining.

Deep space is quite literally as far away from that as it gets. There's no realistic mission that far out in our lifetime or the lifetimes of our great grand children that will have any realistic return for a nation beyond pure exploratory interest.

If Russia or China are really interested in objects far outside our solar system, they're probably better off sitting back and letting NASA do it, given that they don't have to wait decades to do so. Something tells me that neither of them actually cares, though.

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

#322

Post by Natfan »

paulddraper wrote: post #308
lawlessone wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>That’s about 60,000 years to the nearest star. Assuming it doesn't hit a rock or eventually fall into something. How long could it physically last with cosmic rays etc hitting it? will it eventually just an unrecognizable metal lump?

> How long could it physically last with cosmic rays etc hitting it? Likely a long, long time. Neanderthal cave paintings have lasted upwards of 60,000 years.

Surely there's a difference between cave paintings on a planet with an atmosphere, and a spacecraft travelling void?

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

#323

Post by randomdata »

saberdancer wrote: post #318
randomdata wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not when you only paid on the order of $1,000 for it. For so little, nobody is going to bother to support your device for decades, no matter how near or far away it is from you or what you happen to be doing with it. The original Voyager budget was $865 million (~$5 billion today), and has paid out even more for maintenance and operation since. Spend that much money on an iPhone and not only will updates be available…

The point is that they are getting updates, not because NASA paid 865 million in 1970s but because it is doing scientific work that no other spacecraft is able to do currently. If Voyager was orbiting around Earth it would get no updates at all, no matter how much NASA paid to get it into orbit. So my point stands - if Voyager ran on an iPhone it would get those updates.

The point is: It gets updates because people are being paid sufficiently to provide updates. There is incentive given to see them get done.

There is no incentive for Apple to provide longer term support because nobody is ponying up the money to see that support happen. People cheap out and are only willing to pay for short term support – probably because they know that they can afford to buy a whole new, better phone (most likely for less than longer term support would cost!) again in a few years, so they don't care to brunt the cost of longer term support.

NASA knows they can't afford to buy a new Voyager every 5 years – no amount of money can place a new one to replace what is out there that far out in space – so they are buying long term support instead.

Your point only stands if NASA paid Apple enough to see them agree to update an iPhone for decades or more. Simply buying a $1,000 iPhone off the shelf and sticking it into a Voyager probe would not make Apple care or change their updating tune. And if that is your point, what is the point? You would be just restating what was originally said, which seems rather pointless.

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

#324

Post by thiago_fm »

hef19898 wrote: post #93
thiago_fm wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It definitely doesn't, maybe there are some jerks that think badly of NASA, but I doubt they make the majority of us. They do a lot of engineering and science, but have been underfunded for so many years, with the government siding with private companies. For many, like me. It would be a dream to work at NASA, whatever the salary or bureaucracies it might involve. It was my childhood dream, but given I wasn't America…

Depending on where you live, ESA would be an alternative. The quite constantly look for people at their Oberpfaffenhofen site near Munich, if memory serves well they do some Galileo related work there.

I'll keep my eye on it. ESA is awesome as well.

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

#325

Post by paulddraper »

Natfan wrote: post #322
paulddraper wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How long could it physically last with cosmic rays etc hitting it? Likely a long, long time. Neanderthal cave paintings have lasted upwards of 60,000 years.

Surely there's a difference between cave paintings on a planet with an atmosphere, and a spacecraft travelling void?

Yes, the former has many more destructive forces.

So I expect Voyager to be more or less structurally similar in 60,000 years

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