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Voyager 1 breaks its silence with NASA via radio transmitter not used since 1981

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: Voyager 1 breaks its silence with NASA via radio transmitter not used since 1981

#231

Post by Retric »

goldfishgold wrote: post #191
II2II wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree that "corporate America" is problematic, the lessons from Voyager are not really applicable. For starters, it was designed to take advantage of something that predictably happens every couple of hundred years. Very few corporations last that long. Then there is the element of predictability. The solar system pretty much works like clockwork. You can predict simple things, like the orbits of major bodies…

There are plenty of 100 year old companies doing basically what they did 100 years ago (Exxon, Coke, Hershey, Wells Fargo, etc.). They’re just not tech companies.

Wells Fargo is still doing financial services but banking has very different meaning today. Computer is no longer a job title after all.

So sure those brands are 100 years old, but the underlying companies have been restructured several times with major mergers and spin-offs etc. ExxonMobil even did the baby bell thing of splitting off from a single entity only to merge again and again in the coming decades.

Re: Voyager 1 breaks its silence with NASA via radio transmitter not used since 1981

#232

Post by throwaway2037 »

Maxion wrote: post #223
tapland wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And Europe. Finalizing the shutdowns of 2G and 3G networks in Sweden during 2025.

Finland will still keep 2G for a long time.

Is there a particular reason? And how do you know so much about 2G in Finland, specifically!?

Re: Voyager 1 breaks its silence with NASA via radio transmitter not used since 1981

#233

Post by justinclift »

zakary wrote: post #229
justinclift wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can get eternal licenses (or an outright sale of rights), if you are willing to pay. Adobe Creative Cloud (among many others) doesn't have that option.

I have worked with some people in the defence industry who got just that from Adobe and a few similar vendors. They had to negotiate with adobe and sign NDAs both ways, and they payed through the nose for it. But you can do it.

Interesting. Can you point at something online with details of how that happens?

Re: Voyager 1 breaks its silence with NASA via radio transmitter not used since 1981

#234

Post by throwaway2037 »

georgebcrawford wrote: post #220
selcuka wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Australia is shutting down 3G this year.

Didn't it shut down at the start of the month?

Yes, I agree, but I assume is not One Big Switch to disable all of 3G at once. Google tells me that is (at least) started on 28 Oct 2024.

Ref: https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/media-communications-arts/...

Re: Voyager 1 breaks its silence with NASA via radio transmitter not used since 1981

#235

Post by throwaway2037 »

II2II wrote: post #171
johnklos wrote: post #152

I think the Voyager probes teach us lots about what's wrong with corporate America. Imagine devices that don't have built-in obsolescence, or licensing that expires, or that isn't built by committee where they just keep shipping requirements around from one department to another. Imagine if it weren't all proprietary and if it didn't have no public or even complete documentation. Think of all the problems we have ins…

While I agree that "corporate America" is problematic, the lessons from Voyager are not really applicable. For starters, it was designed to take advantage of something that predictably happens every couple of hundred years. Very few corporations last that long. Then there is the element of predictability. The solar system pretty much works like clockwork. You can predict simple things, like the orbits of major bodies…

    > it was designed to take advantage of something that predictably happens every couple of hundred years.
Can you explain this more? Does it mean something like a gravity assist based upon the location of planets when the launches were done?

Re: Voyager 1 breaks its silence with NASA via radio transmitter not used since 1981

#236

Post by varjag »

II2II wrote: post #171
johnklos wrote: post #152

I think the Voyager probes teach us lots about what's wrong with corporate America. Imagine devices that don't have built-in obsolescence, or licensing that expires, or that isn't built by committee where they just keep shipping requirements around from one department to another. Imagine if it weren't all proprietary and if it didn't have no public or even complete documentation. Think of all the problems we have ins…

While I agree that "corporate America" is problematic, the lessons from Voyager are not really applicable. For starters, it was designed to take advantage of something that predictably happens every couple of hundred years. Very few corporations last that long. Then there is the element of predictability. The solar system pretty much works like clockwork. You can predict simple things, like the orbits of major bodies…

Also numerous space probes did fail very early despite having design philosophy not very different from Voyagers.

Re: Voyager 1 breaks its silence with NASA via radio transmitter not used since 1981

#237

Post by throwaway2037 »

goldfishgold wrote: post #191
II2II wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree that "corporate America" is problematic, the lessons from Voyager are not really applicable. For starters, it was designed to take advantage of something that predictably happens every couple of hundred years. Very few corporations last that long. Then there is the element of predictability. The solar system pretty much works like clockwork. You can predict simple things, like the orbits of major bodies…

There are plenty of 100 year old companies doing basically what they did 100 years ago (Exxon, Coke, Hershey, Wells Fargo, etc.). They’re just not tech companies.

Wow, your choices are interesting.

  * Exxon: Massive amounts of technology have been ingested by the oil majors in the last 50 years.  It is basically a high tech business at this point.  Also, if we only focus on the physical work, fracking didn't exist 50 years ago, and now it is a major part of the industry.  Again: Huge changes.

  * Coke/Hershey: Think about how much automation exists in their manuf.  Do any humans touch a "bottle" of Coca Cola before it is packaged?  I doubt it in highly developed countries.

  * Wells Fargo: the same as Exxon.  Commercial banking has a fraction the number of employees _in proportion to their assets under management (AUM)_ compared to 50 years ago.  How/Why?  Automation / computers!

Re: Voyager 1 breaks its silence with NASA via radio transmitter not used since 1981

#238

Post by throwaway2037 »

bdcravens wrote: post #192
johnklos wrote: post #152

I think the Voyager probes teach us lots about what's wrong with corporate America. Imagine devices that don't have built-in obsolescence, or licensing that expires, or that isn't built by committee where they just keep shipping requirements around from one department to another. Imagine if it weren't all proprietary and if it didn't have no public or even complete documentation. Think of all the problems we have ins…

It also helps to have $4.5B (in 2024 dollars) to spend on a project. https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/voyager-spacec...

Not to mention that it has a chunk of highly radioactive plutonium that acts as a battery / power source. That whole thing is nuts that it got built, "shipped", and still works ~50 years later, approximately 1.21 jiga-kilometers away from Earth.

Re: Voyager 1 breaks its silence with NASA via radio transmitter not used since 1981

#239

Post by throwaway2037 »

bargainbot3k wrote: post #164
johnklos wrote: post #152

I think the Voyager probes teach us lots about what's wrong with corporate America. Imagine devices that don't have built-in obsolescence, or licensing that expires, or that isn't built by committee where they just keep shipping requirements around from one department to another. Imagine if it weren't all proprietary and if it didn't have no public or even complete documentation. Think of all the problems we have ins…

I haven’t yet had a chance to work on aerospace (or beyond) equipment though I do work on medical grade things and some of the parts are aerospace certified, though they haven’t been put through the ringer. In particular, I work with high voltage/amperage, high liquid pressure and high temperature systems. Some of it has been running for close to 25-30 years with very few issues. Only recently have I had to open a po…

This is a great post. This part stands out to me:

    > I’ve gotten into a habit of identifying parts that, through experience, I know will fail or can fail and replaced them with ones that are all but guaranteed to outlive me.
Depending upon your NDA/security level, can you share a specific example? Maybe you see a steel/aluminum chain between gears that you know will wear out in X years, but could be replaced with something that is tungsten/titanium that will last for 5X years.

Re: Voyager 1 breaks its silence with NASA via radio transmitter not used since 1981

#240

Post by omeid2 »

zakary wrote: post #229
justinclift wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can get eternal licenses (or an outright sale of rights), if you are willing to pay. Adobe Creative Cloud (among many others) doesn't have that option.

I have worked with some people in the defence industry who got just that from Adobe and a few similar vendors. They had to negotiate with adobe and sign NDAs both ways, and they payed through the nose for it. But you can do it.

"Be defence forces of (checks profile) one-of-the-five nation states" is not a standard of negotiation requirement I deem attainable for just about anyone that isn't one of the five or EU the union.
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