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Voyager Set To Enter Interstellar Space

Posted by timothy on from the ok-but-you're-still-in-my-comfort-zone dept.

Phoghat writes "More than 30 years after they were launched, NASA's two Voyager probes have traveled to the edge of the solar system and are on the doorstep of interstellar space. Today, April 28, 2011, NASA held a live briefing to reflect on what the Voyager mission has accomplished — and to preview what lies ahead as the probes prepare to enter the realm of the Milky Way itself."

7 of 362 comments (clear)

  1. Let me say by milbournosphere · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Congratulations to the engineers working on the original project all those years ago. I couldn't fathom designing something like this with the toolset they had 30+ years ago. Props to them for creating a set of probes that are still relevant 30 years after their launch.

    1. Re:Let me say by Pseudonym+Authority · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It may have been a less advanced toolset, but the mindset back them was what really made it work. Back then, anything was possible, even expensive research unlikely to have any direct benifits. Now? If it isn't going to make a profit next month, trash it. Fuck the modern era. We did more with slide rules and determination than we do now with modern technology.

    2. Re:Let me say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
      You know, they weren't club-wielding savages in loincloths back then.The most important tools they had back then were:

      1) A university system that wasn't designed to maximize profit therefore bringing in anyone into EE. Only actual engineers made it back then. The engineer working on the other system wasn't a dumbass.

      2) Computers and software were simpler and easier to understand instead of the morass of chaotic, barely-functioning layers of unknown code we have today.

      3) They had SPICE back then!

      4) Plenty enough technology to do what was needed.

    3. Re:Let me say by slew · · Score: 5, Informative

      How many times did they have to reboot Voyager?

      In case you didn't know, it wasn't a reboot, but there was a problem where they actually did have to live patch the voyager 2 computer last year for a bit-flip problem...

      Of course this was discussed previously

      Although that's impressive, in general, the SW architecture of voyager is quite complicated and fragile, and during the operation, several mistakes have been made one of which caused the primary receiver on Voyager 2 to be accidently shut down, never to work again (so it's relying on a backup which has a faultly frequency tuning circuit which they compensate in software).

      It's really only heroics which keep these probes up and running. The original engineering, while impressive, is really not the thing that's keeping things working now...

    4. Re:Let me say by Toam · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Just passing Uranus LOL"

    5. Re:Let me say by Nursie · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "It is a shame that programmers and engineers do not design and code their products so that they will be reliable."

      Speak for yourself.

      Some of us take pride in our work and write fast, reliable software that runs on servers for multiple years without interference.

  2. Voyagers, thank you for what you have given me by Slutticus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The Voyager probes are approximately three months younger than me. All my life, I have followed the magical images and data these probes have been sending back to earth. In fact, it was the first images of saturn and jupiter that inspired me to be a scientist. It wasn't the pharma industry in which I work now. It wasn't the lure (lie?) of riches received for making the next big discovery. It was those probes, hurling through space sending back the most fascinating shit my young mind had ever witnessed. I spent almost my entire youth with my head buried in encyclopedias and books about astronomy, all made possible by Voyager 1 and 2. In the end I chose a different science path, but who knows...I could have ended up being a financial analyst (**shudders**)