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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

#281

Post by h_tbob »

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 really think competition is good in one sense.

But of you think logically from first principles, it makes no sense to have both an a320 and 737.

All this competition and “corporate greed” where we literally have two airplanes that are functionally identical rebuilt from the ground up is an huge, massive waste of human capital and enabled by the government through monopoly of copyright and patents.

While I think creators should get paid, I wonder if there is a better way to manage copyright that what we do.

I think the government granting this extreme of a monopoly on copyright is one of the weirdest things we tolerate.

There has to be a way where we can statutorily authorize copying at x% fee or something.

That way we don’t build two copies of the same thing!

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

#282

Post by Ponet1945 »

dehrmann wrote: post #151
KennyBlanken wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shhhh, this is HN, where just like on reddit, a bunch of computer programmers think they know more than a professional in said professional's field.

Imagine what would happen if a dot-com billionaire started a space company.

Said dot-com billionaire being a physicist who only went into dot-com to earn money to start a space company.

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

#283

Post by reisse »

h_tbob wrote: post #281
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 really think competition is good in one sense. But of you think logically from first principles, it makes no sense to have both an a320 and 737. All this competition and “corporate greed” where we literally have two airplanes that are functionally identical rebuilt from the ground up is an huge, massive waste of human capital and enabled by the government through monopoly of copyright and patents. While I think cre…

A320 and 737 are functionally similiar only in terms of "a flying machine moving you in the air at 900 kilometers per hour". Both Airbus and Boeing are exploring in a space of different design and engineering concepts, where there is no clear winner.

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

#284

Post by dennis_jeeves2 »

bargainbot3k wrote: post #160

For the HN ultra-nerds: is there a book that details the voyager 1 construction including sensors, PCBs, materials compositions manufacturing processes and all that? I’m looking for something so dense I’ll need a therapist to find my way back to society afterwards. Truly curious thank you.

>so dense I’ll need a therapist to find my way back to society afterwards

Well, at least you are self enlightened to recognize your flaw...

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

#285

Post by KETHERCORTEX »

wvh wrote: post #255
omeid2 wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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.

Fair enough, but how life-crucial can an old copy of Adobe be?... I'm assuming a project like the Voyager mission relies on something a bit more bespoke than a copy of Adobe Creative Whatever. I really hope the defence forces core mission doesn't depend on Adobe Creative Cloud.

I guess the main reason here isn't "keeping an old version", but having a version that doesn't require an internet connection to be activated and doesn't send any data to Adobe.

But having an older version can be useful too because some features from previous releases may be missing in current ones, so that's a way to ensure access to the old files. A couple of years ago all the Pantone colours used in Photoshop just became black after an update because Adobe stopped licensing Pantone stuff.

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

#286

Post by jvanderbot »

Dalewyn wrote: post #143
jvanderbot wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The longevity of Voyager has only a little to do with software engineering, and latest software engineering has even less to do with building spacecraft like Voyager.

If anything I expect modern software engineering to have significantly higher risks of failure than programmers of ye olde days. Why? The first step today would be installing Discord[1], the second step would be updating code live 420 no scope[2], and the third step would be figuring out how many JavaScript abstractions are desired. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42162380 [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/…

I think the pushback is b/c this falls on common stereotypes about modern software being bloated and unnecessarily fragile. Those are justified stereotypes often enough, but spacecraft software is such a different animal that it just doesn't really apply very often.

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

#287

Post by tapland »

mrweasel wrote: post #262
throwaway2037 wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Denmark does the same. 3G has been shutdown, or mostly at least. 2G is kept running, with no plans to shut it down in the future. Things that uses 2G: - Electricity meters - Alarm systems - Cooling and heating systems - Rat traps (?) - And an absolute crap-ton of early "IoT" devices. And it's considered a backup network, with better coverage and range than 4G/5G. It also makes sense as the country is actively startin…

Yeah, there was a lot of debates when they started relying on cell networks for alarms systems (mostly for the elderly) as a way to not have to maintain the copper.

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

#288

Post by robertlagrant »

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…

> if businesses had their way, would the Internet be run on Novell, with millions of Novell admins all around the world constantly needing to fuss with things just to keep it running?

No, I doubt it. The businesses that make all the hardware and software that powers the internet are perfectly fine with it being an open protocol.

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

#289

Post by robertlagrant »

circlefavshape wrote: post #256
veltas wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup and in the UK a lot of our card payment boxes for car parks will stop working when 3G is shut down, and will be replaced with an app. People without phones need not apply!

Really? Oh man ... I was in the UK this summer and had to install a different app to pay for parking (or car charging) in every city I went to, and some of them wouldn't accept a non-UK licence plate :( High demand for developers keeps my salary high, but it's all such a waste.

It is nice with the app though. Topping up, alerts, GPS for where your car is. It's annoying it's multiple apps, but the apps do add value.

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

#290

Post by astrodust »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #125
bigiain wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still a huge amount of luck involved. If that planetary alignment had happened even 10 years earlier NASA probably wouldn't have had the capability to do anything with it. If it had been sometime recently, say after the Challenger disaster, I doubt it would have got funding...

There's no way that a disaster on a manned mission would affect a satellite launch. They share nothing in common.

Except one thing: Politics.
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