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Voyager 1 runs on 69 KB of memory and an 8-track tape recorder

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Re: Voyager 1 runs on 69 KB of memory and an 8-track tape recorder

#161

Post by aorloff »

throwaway27448 wrote: post #160
jgalt212 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Voyager, Apollo, and Hubble. Everything else NASA has done is a distant 4th place. And it's not like 4th place is trash, it's just that the big 3 are just so impressive.

I don't think Apollo was very interesting or useful beyond cold war propaganda. Yes, we're capable of amazing things—but putting a man on the moon pales in comparison to basic healthcare funding. Why must we insist on wasting billions on histrionic braggadocio when we can't perform the basics of a modern society? https://youtu.be/otwkXZ0SmTs?si=DqEyklYpEbUO69HL

Which country do you think got basic healthcare funding right ?

Re: Voyager 1 runs on 69 KB of memory and an 8-track tape recorder

#162

Post by throwaway27448 »

aorloff wrote: post #161
throwaway27448 wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think Apollo was very interesting or useful beyond cold war propaganda. Yes, we're capable of amazing things—but putting a man on the moon pales in comparison to basic healthcare funding. Why must we insist on wasting billions on histrionic braggadocio when we can't perform the basics of a modern society? https://youtu.be/otwkXZ0SmTs?si=DqEyklYpEbUO69HL

Which country do you think got basic healthcare funding right ?

Relative to what, the US? I'd say the thirty wealthiest countries on the planet... except us.

Re: Voyager 1 runs on 69 KB of memory and an 8-track tape recorder

#164

Post by IncreasePosts »

cyberax wrote: post #103
wongarsu wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume you are against them due to the silent forest hypothesis? Better not announce ourselves, because anything out there might not be friendly to us?

The dark forest hypothesis assumes that it's easy to travel between stars, so interstellar conquests are possible. But it doesn't seem to be the case. There are no material goods that can justify the material and energetic expense of any interstellar travel. You'd be far better off just using a particle accelerator to forge any chemical element and then assemble them into molecules using nano-replicators. The best yo…

That's why I never understood sci Fi nerds obsession with outer space, as opposed to inner space. Humans sit about half way between the biggest and smallest things in the universe. Instead of exploring the cosmos, which takes tons of energy and is almost entirely empty, we could be exploring the space between atoms and building worlds without our own world. It is also almost entirely empty, but the energy costs to construct anything would be close to zero.

Re: Voyager 1 runs on 69 KB of memory and an 8-track tape recorder

#166

Post by jandrese »

bragr wrote: post #142
anovikov wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Won't ion engines power by something like Kilopower reactor let us do better?

Bunch of napkin math: you'd need something like 10 kilowatts and 140 km/s detla-v to catch up to Voyager in a decade, assuming a New Horizons equivalent Earth escape velocity. The amount of xenon is technically possible, however even assuming impressive 8000 Isp thrusters, your fuel mass fraction ends up being 90+% fuel which doesn't leave a lot of mass for that reactor and radiators. A 20 year intercept would be pre…

Is that including a Jupiter/Saturn assist?

Re: Voyager 1 runs on 69 KB of memory and an 8-track tape recorder

#167

Post by [deleted] »

ravenstine wrote: post #138
trvz wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are dangerous and reckless. They were also done in the name of humanity, but without humanity’s consent. I despise the naive scientists who did them as much as those who brought the damocletian sword of nuclear weapons on us.

Good thing those gold plates give aliens the wrong directions to Earth anyway.

[deleted]

Re: Voyager 1 runs on 69 KB of memory and an 8-track tape recorder

#168

Post by bigiain »

hparadiz wrote: post #154
pja wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

James Webb Telescope is up there with Hubble.

The rovers on Mars as well and New Horizons that went to Pluto. That is also at escape velocity so it will leave this solar system and most likely no human will ever lay eyes on it again. Voy 1 and 2 are still faster but hey they're all going in different directions so it's not exactly a race.

I'm really impressed by Ingenuity

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingenuity_(helicopter)

It was sent to Mars with a plan for 5 flights and a total of 7 or 8 minutes flight time. It ended up flying for over 2 hours in 72 seperate flights before it damaged itself with a bad landing. Not quite the "this thing is still doing science almost 50 years later" that Voyager can claim, but impressively engineered so it lasted way beyond it's initial mission plan.

Re: Voyager 1 runs on 69 KB of memory and an 8-track tape recorder

#169

Post by whatrocks »

pkorzeniewski wrote: post #49

Voyager 1 & 2 is one of my favourite human science achievements, not even so much from technology standpoint, as it's relatively simple compared to what we have now (although that's one of the charms), but just the fact that it's so far away, it still more or less works long after the scheduled mission end time, we can communicate with it and despite all the modern technology progress, it would take decades to catch…

Yes, yes! I got really into the Voyager-inspiration vibes for a while and wrote this little short story about a secret "Voyager 3" mission - thought you might enjoy it: https://f52.charlieharrington.com/stories/voyager-3/

Re: Voyager 1 runs on 69 KB of memory and an 8-track tape recorder

#170

Post by bragr »

jandrese wrote: post #166
bragr wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bunch of napkin math: you'd need something like 10 kilowatts and 140 km/s detla-v to catch up to Voyager in a decade, assuming a New Horizons equivalent Earth escape velocity. The amount of xenon is technically possible, however even assuming impressive 8000 Isp thrusters, your fuel mass fraction ends up being 90+% fuel which doesn't leave a lot of mass for that reactor and radiators. A 20 year intercept would be pre…

Is that including a Jupiter/Saturn assist?

No, that's more than napkin math but I feel the numbers stand for themselves that we can't really do better than decades. A few km/s won't change that.
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