I love this stuff - Voyager has left the building!

davejames · 2013-09-12 14:20

"...the little engine that could."

Pretty much sums it up!

Rock on, Voyager! :thumb:

http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-voyager-1-probe-left-solar-system-181643361.html

skylight · 2013-09-12 14:24

Yes saw that in an article today, apparently it was a year ago it passed outside but enough evidence to prove it wasn't till now.

They say it could take hundreds or even thousands of years to pass the Ice fragments in the solar system but it has passed the "Planets"

ElectricAye · 2013-09-12 16:28

Maybe it will finally discover what really happened to Elvis.

erco · 2013-09-12 16:30

Bbb...bbb...bb...bbbbb...bbb...bbbb..bbb...bb...bbbeeep! (Digital for "It's c...c...cold way out here!")

davejames · 2013-09-13 07:22

...even more neat stuff - the sound of interstellar space!

http://www.space.com/22777-voyager-1-records-sounds-from-interstellar-space-video.html

xanadu · 2013-09-13 10:38

I remember thinking the Golden Record was going to attract enemy aliens. I guess that was before I knew about radio telescopes hehe.

skylight · 2013-09-13 11:07

ElectricAye wrote: »

Maybe it will finally discover what really happened to Elvis.

Bet he wished he hadn't sung "You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes"
looking in the background I'd love to see what happened next...

Mark_T · 2013-09-13 12:03

Custom radiation-hardened CD4000 series CMOS plus TTL custom processors apparently:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_program#Computers

User Name · 2013-09-13 22:05

That's a pretty interesting Wikipedia article. Makes me wonder what sort of tape recorder you put on an interstellar probe.

RDL2004 · 2013-09-14 04:45

Makes me wonder what sort of tape recorder you put on an interstellar probe.

Recorder, DTR (Data Tape Recorder) Bay Assembly, Voyager Spacecraft

I still wonder what the actual "tape" was made from, surely not the usual brown plastic stuff?

lanternfish · 2013-09-15 03:33

RDL2004 wrote: »

Recorder, DTR (Data Tape Recorder) Bay Assembly, Voyager Spacecraft

I still wonder what the actual "tape" was made from, surely not the usual brown plastic stuff?

All I have been able to find out is that the DTR is an 8-track. Anyone remember those?

Gadgetman · 2013-09-15 03:44

Can't be an 8-track.
Those doesn't allow for recording your own tapes...

RDL2004 · 2013-09-15 05:29

From the official NASA Voyager - The Interstellar Mission web page:

The Flight Data Subsystem (FDS) and a single 8-track digital tape recorder (DTR) provide the data handling functions. The FDS configures each instrument and controls instrument operations. It also collects engineering and science data and formats the data for transmission. The DTR is used to record high-rate PWS data. Data are played back every six months.

I guess you can record on an 8-track, as longer as it's built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

mindrobots · 2013-09-15 08:35

By "8 track", I'm sure they don't mean like the one in PhiPi's Pinto or like the BeeGee cartridges in his glove box. They mean like the 8 track digital tapes computers used to use.

Our mainframe tapes were 9 track (parity) on big honking reels.

Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway at 80mph!

pogertt · 2013-09-15 09:07

Flash forward to 4013............

This just in from NASA
A message was received from the area of space Voyager was last seen heading into.
It simply stated "Send more Chuck Berry".

RDL2004 · 2013-09-15 09:30

Here is a link to a NASA pdf with lots of information about the Voyager spacecraft:

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19810001583_1981001583.pdf

And this is a photo of an actual flight qualified Voyager DTR:

If the photo doesn't show up for you, just follow this link I posted previously:

http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?object=nasm_A19990065000

Publison · 2013-09-15 09:32

Gadgetman wrote: »

Can't be an 8-track.
Those doesn't allow for recording your own tapes...

If you are talking about consumer 8-track tape, I had this recorder back in the 70's:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PANASONIC-RS-808-VINTAGE-8-TRACK-STEREO-TAPE-PLAYER-RECORDER-IN-BOX-NICE-/111157223703

erco · 2013-09-16 09:01

Amazing. Pity we'll never see it again!

I really like the idea of long-range missions for robots where they achieve a goal and come back or are retrievable. Like those undersea gliders that ply the oceans, or the robot sailboats that sail the seas. DARPA or Parallax (at an Expo) should have a contest along those lines. Make a sizeable (?) environment with obstacles and goals, and turn your autonomous bot loose to deal with real world stuff, retrieving objects, samples, and data. Combine Trinity's Firefighting Robot contest and DARPA's Grand challenge. Maybe with some RoboMagellan thrown in. Lasers and PING-Dar a MUST!

skylight · 2013-09-16 09:18

erco wrote: »

Amazing. Pity we'll never see it again!

You never know, it may come back as V'Ger and the 8 track may be playing the BeeGees or better still:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us3dQ0nnlHY

Publison · 2013-09-16 09:54

skylight wrote: »

You never know, it may come back as V'Ger and the 8 track may be playing the BeeGees or better still:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us3dQ0nnlHY

Noooooooooooooooooo!

mindrobots · 2013-09-16 11:11

Publison wrote: »

Noooooooooooooooooo!

Oh, Jim.......please say you didn't click on it!

Oh, the humanity!

Publison · 2013-09-16 11:15

mindrobots wrote: »

Oh, Jim.......please say you didn't click on it!

Oh, the humanity!

Guilty!

Ear worm....ruined for the day.

I love this stuff - Voyager has left the building!

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