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Pioneer 10 Still Running After 30 years

Posted by michael on from the overdue-for-tuneup-and-brake-job dept.

evilempireinc writes "According to this article in Scientific American, Pioneer 10 is still functioning 30 years after it was launched in 1972, and is still sending back scientific data. The article mentions that two other old space craft, Voyager, and IMP-8 are still functioning after over 20 years as well due to overbuilt construction and redundant systems. Can't help but wonder if the present generation of "faster, better, cheaper" probes will ever live this long though."

2 of 299 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Mysterious force.... by petchema · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Must be the boomerang effect ? ;)

  2. Re:How special is that.. by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 1, Offtopic
    My probe is 44 years old and works just fine, thank you.

    Even without the Herbal Viagra you can get from fine net vendors everywhere?

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    That is all.