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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

#221

Post by gruturo »

m4rtink wrote: post #76
gruturo wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately a gravity assist maneuver is almost "incompatible" with an ion thruster. If you approach e.g. Jupiter you gain speed (it's pulling you in), which you then lose as you get away from it (as it's still pulling you in, meh). Gravity assists work because you use your chemical rocket right when you are closest and speed away, "robbing" Jupiter of the chance to claim the energy it lent you on approach. Ion thr…

I think you are mixing up gravity assist with the oberth effect. I'm pretty sure Voyagers did no massive burns close to the giant planets for example. A (so far theoretical) Solar Oberth maneuver on the other hand...

Whoops, you're completely right. I stand corrected. Thanks, I just learned the difference between the 2.

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

#222

Post by sdmike1 »

zelphirkalt wrote: post #145

Whenever such an announcement is made, I keep asking myself something along the lines: "Just how much stuff did they put on board that thing, that there is always some way of using something differently or something different, to get back a working connection???" Incredible engineering.

Working in the government space sector, generally speaking, you're given a mission lifetime which is seen as a minimum. your payload/spacecraft/instrument needs to last at least this long. some things end up being limited by the physics of the system (See the RTG on the Voyager probes for a common example, or CEMs on plasma spectroscopy instruments for a more obscure example). However, in pretty much all cases where the physics doesn't put a hard cap on the thing you're building, nobody wants the thing building to be the first thing, or critical point of failure of the whole system.

jval43's quote puts it pretty well. It's not just that you're designing something to last, you're designing it not to fail. It also tends to help when you have a bunch of really smart folks from a number of disciplines working on the same problem.

With that said, you need to walk a fine line as far as the level of redundancy and fallbacks you put in place versus the overall SWaP (Space Weight and Power) of the system. I can go somewhat deeper into SWaP issues if you would like.

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

#223

Post by Maxion »

tapland wrote: post #202
smcin wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, North America, you mean. 2G is still alive and kicking, especially in Africa and South Asia: https://streetwave.co/mobile-networks/2g-switch-off-by-count... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2G#Phase-out

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

Finland will still keep 2G for a long time.

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

#225

Post by ad-astra »

sdmike1 wrote: post #222
zelphirkalt wrote: post #145

Whenever such an announcement is made, I keep asking myself something along the lines: "Just how much stuff did they put on board that thing, that there is always some way of using something differently or something different, to get back a working connection???" Incredible engineering.

Working in the government space sector, generally speaking, you're given a mission lifetime which is seen as a minimum. your payload/spacecraft/instrument needs to last at least this long. some things end up being limited by the physics of the system (See the RTG on the Voyager probes for a common example, or CEMs on plasma spectroscopy instruments for a more obscure example). However, in pretty much all cases where…

Please do :)

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

#226

Post by iforgotpassword »

eru wrote: post #180
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…

> Imagine devices that don't have built-in obsolescence, or licensing that expires, [...] You can buy long lasting stuff just fine, if you are willing to pay. You can get eternal licenses (or an outright sale of rights), if you are willing to pay. It's all about trade-offs, and many people have priorities that are different from 'last as long as possible'. Eg many computers from the 1980s are still perfectly usable t…

But that's stuff from 25 years ago. Try it, get a windows phone with version 8.1 from ebay now and see how far you get.

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

#227

Post by veltas »

tapland wrote: post #202
smcin wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, North America, you mean. 2G is still alive and kicking, especially in Africa and South Asia: https://streetwave.co/mobile-networks/2g-switch-off-by-count... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2G#Phase-out

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

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!

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

#228

Post by justinclift »

eru wrote: post #180
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…

> Imagine devices that don't have built-in obsolescence, or licensing that expires, [...] You can buy long lasting stuff just fine, if you are willing to pay. You can get eternal licenses (or an outright sale of rights), if you are willing to pay. It's all about trade-offs, and many people have priorities that are different from 'last as long as possible'. Eg many computers from the 1980s are still perfectly usable t…

> 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.

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

#229

Post by zakary »

justinclift wrote: post #228
eru wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Imagine devices that don't have built-in obsolescence, or licensing that expires, [...] You can buy long lasting stuff just fine, if you are willing to pay. You can get eternal licenses (or an outright sale of rights), if you are willing to pay. It's all about trade-offs, and many people have priorities that are different from 'last as long as possible'. Eg many computers from the 1980s are still perfectly usable t…

> 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.
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