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Whisper Heard From Pioneer 10

Posted by Hemos on from the hello-hello-is-there-anybody-out-there dept.

Irishman writes "NASA has heard from the Pioneer 10 spacecraft for the first time since March. Unfortunately, it is too faint to get scientific data from the craft. CNN has the story here. Considering that the craft is twice the distance from the Sun as Pluto is and that it has spent 30 years subjected to space, this is amazing! Now if only computer manufacturers could make equipment even remotely this sturdy."

10 of 569 comments (clear)

  1. They can by GigsVT · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now if only computer manufacturers could make equipment even remotely this sturdy."

    They can, you just don't want to pay for it.

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  2. Reliability by MrResistor · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now if only computer manufacturers could make equipment even remotely this sturdy.

    Who says they don't? I'd say that the fact that you won't be using the same computer 30 years from now has very little to do with reliability. In which case, why bother designing for a 30 year lifespan?

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  3. Re:use repeaters ... ? by tanveer1979 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    simple reason
    Coordination.
    Besides having a large dish on earth do communication is one thing... and having communications system based on a remote probe is another.
    Moreover the Voyager serves the purpose too. It is farther than Pioneer... infact it is the farthest man made object. It is working perfectly right now. Rather than send repeaters after the sent out probes what is preffered is to send better probes in another direction.

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  4. Where is it going? by phorm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Where exactly is the Pioneer headed to. Is it intended to eventually make a circular path and eventually head home, or will it just continue to wander out into space? If we could start planting satellites in circular synchronous orbits, perhaps we could eventually have a transmission array that could gradually extend throughout the solar system.

    Sending out probes is cool when we can collect info, but it's not really useful if the data isn't able to be processed. A probe that wanders away isn't really very useful, unless perhaps somebody picks it up and sends it home or comes to visit.

  5. Trust the data? by webword · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "On the rare occasions when astronomers have coaxed even sparse data from Pioneer 10 in recent years, they have used the readings to investigate everything from cosmic rays to chaos theory to gravitational mechanics."

    Are we getting accurate data? Do we know that the data coming back is reliable? Should we trust Pioneer 10 and the data that it is sending us? Note: I'm glad it is still operating. That really is a feat. But, we should temper our enthusiam with a heatlhy dose of skepticism.

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  6. Re:use repeaters ... ? by tomhudson · · Score: 5, Insightful
    While it's interesting that it's still working, there is nothing out there to study. </quote>

    If we don't even bother to look, how do we know there's nothing worth looking at? :-)

  7. Re:Cheap wish for sturdiness by jd · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The radiation in space would fry most electronics. The special rad-hardened stuff you need for space is far from trivial to make.


    Oh, then you've the temperature thing. Commercial grade components won't handle sub-zero celcius. Industrial grade goes to -40 and military/space will support -50.


    Space is 5'K, which is -268 celcius. The difference in rates of thermal expansion of metals and plastics would be enough to shatter most components, at that temperature.

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  8. Re:Signal strenght? by Flakeloaf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    True, radio communications just aren't going to cut it. We can pick up radio-type signals from stars, but these are... well, not to put too fine a point on it, fucking stars. This probe is a walkie-talkie with a half-dead 9 volt battery in comparison.

    Any signal that's actually going to get anywhere would either:

    - be optical
    - be based on some kind of technology we haven't invented yet
    - be repeated through a series of probes orbiting around other celestial bodies that do not generate significant EM interference themselves

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  9. If you're willing to pay... by wdr1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now if only computer manufacturers could make equipment even remotely this sturdy.

    I'm sure if you're willing to pay $350 million, most PC makers would be willing to work with you on that.

    Considering I paid roughly 0.00000228% of that, I'm willing to deal with a reboot every month or so.

    -Bill

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  10. Re:Yarkovsky Effect -- normal physics only. by forii · · Score: 4, Insightful
    If Pioneer 10 is spinning, it must be spinning around the axis of travel, so that the same part of the spacecraft (the antenna part) is always facing towards the sun (and earth). In this case, I don't think that the Yarkovsky effect would be applicable.


    Not to mention that, at 82AU away from the sun, the amount of solar heating is negligible.