"Uptime 15,364 days - The Computers of Voyager"
Discussion
Haven't seen it in its entirety but looks worth a watch https://youtu.be/H62hZJVqs2o
Thanks for posting that link.
I spent 10 years working in sat-comms so I'm fortunate to understand all the tech side of that presentation - I'm really looking forward to watching it again with my son where by we can pause it and I can explain the science.
Thinking back all those years ago (over 35), my Dad took me to visit Jodrell Bank, I found the whole trip fascinating, a few years later I did a school sixth form presentation titled 'Space Flight & Exploration'. My Dad got me some massive sheets of paper upon which I diligently drew all the launch vehicles and space probes, and planetary maps. I remember telling a class of 17yr old kids that the Voyager probes could still be working when you hit your 50s.
It was really hard back then to get access to information - the school library was small, and I did all my research in the local library asking them to order books from other libraries on my behalf.
I was mightily impressed when watching that video on learning that they had five CPUs in the CCS system - it's utterly amazing to think they got them all watching each other, I remember working on some Ground Station code where in a meeting we had to ask ourselves 'How the f**k are we going to manage the redundancy here?'. It took us months to come up with something feasible.
The Voyager missions were an absolute triumph in engineering and something that I feel younger people don't really appreciate now as to how difficult it was to not only get these systems into space but the fact they workes and are still working now.
Thanks again for the link.
I spent 10 years working in sat-comms so I'm fortunate to understand all the tech side of that presentation - I'm really looking forward to watching it again with my son where by we can pause it and I can explain the science.
Thinking back all those years ago (over 35), my Dad took me to visit Jodrell Bank, I found the whole trip fascinating, a few years later I did a school sixth form presentation titled 'Space Flight & Exploration'. My Dad got me some massive sheets of paper upon which I diligently drew all the launch vehicles and space probes, and planetary maps. I remember telling a class of 17yr old kids that the Voyager probes could still be working when you hit your 50s.
It was really hard back then to get access to information - the school library was small, and I did all my research in the local library asking them to order books from other libraries on my behalf.
I was mightily impressed when watching that video on learning that they had five CPUs in the CCS system - it's utterly amazing to think they got them all watching each other, I remember working on some Ground Station code where in a meeting we had to ask ourselves 'How the f**k are we going to manage the redundancy here?'. It took us months to come up with something feasible.
The Voyager missions were an absolute triumph in engineering and something that I feel younger people don't really appreciate now as to how difficult it was to not only get these systems into space but the fact they workes and are still working now.
Thanks again for the link.
Gandahar said:
Excellent video, really good presentation with lots of information.
Both Voyagers will eventually end up back on earth of course if we progress due to salvage and making money.
It will probably be frowned upon at the time of course.
It may be a whileBoth Voyagers will eventually end up back on earth of course if we progress due to salvage and making money.
It will probably be frowned upon at the time of course.
https://what-if.xkcd.com/38/
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