I read this evening that they have managed to remotely fix Voyager 1 after its started sending back scrambled information. It’s travelling at some 38k mph and over 15 billion miles away. There are some supremely clever people in this world. JLR couldn't send us patch files successfully from Solihull.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/...year-old-probe
If Keith Richards was a spacecraft :)
Mostly 1960s technology. Likewise, you could probably instruct the owner to repair his Series 2 over the phoneOriginally Posted by Franky Four Fingers
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
That's a story for movies (and yes, they've done a few with that theme). The old 'When you put your mind to it, you can make it happen!' In this case they needed a few people who have a 'free bus pass' to come back, I guess. (And I think that the JLR help desk employees in Mumbay or Delhi are too young to help you with these older Series LRs...)
If it has an accident that far away is it only covered Third Party?
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Getting the signal there is so complex but it's just "remotely" in the media :-)
B
Few things are as awe-inspiring to me as Voyager 1.
When I was 10 or 11, I had a book that described NASA's intention to launch a probe that would take advantage of a planetary alignment that only takes place once every 176 years. This was due to happen in the late '70s and back then the proposed mission was known as the "Grand Tour".
So Voyager 1 was launched in September 1977.
It's into the last few years of its useful life now - not because of the distance, but because it's running out of power. It converts heat from decaying plutonium into electricity to power its instruments, antiquated onboard computer and transmitters, and the stuff only lasts so long.
Its cameras were switched off in 1990, to save memory (the onboard computer only has 70k).
I find it a bit eerie to think about it out there in the bleak coldness of space.
On a cosmological scale though, it's still very close. If you imagine Earth to be the monument at Charing Cross Station and the edge of our galaxy (about 23,000 light years away) to be the closest bit of the M25, Voyager 1 has travelled about 2mm. It's not actually travelling in the direction of the nearest star but if it was, even at a bit over 10 miles per second it would take roughly another 75,000 years to get there.
Now for the inevitable, predictable Douglas Adams quote:
“Space is big.
You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.
I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”
Since Douglas Adams has been mentioned…
The story so far:
In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
... or Terry Pratchet: 'In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.'
Always loved that.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
I’m sure most are aware of it already, but the documentary movie about Voyager is awesome: “The Farthest”
I didn't, so many thanks for the pointer.
Using a VPN, I managed to watch it at www.pbs.org/the-farthest...a site worth exploring (through the menu) for more information on Explorer.
Another good watch.
Just watching "NASA's Voyager Mission:Remastered.
On you tube...2hrs 45mins
Jackson Tyler's Homemade Documentaries are all excellent watching; some of the best on YouTube - assuming you can find the time.
https://www.youtube.com/@JacksonTyler
15 billion miles away and a senior from Florida has not managed to run into it even more amazing.
It takes 22.5 hours for a signal to reach it and same coming back.
And the golden record on board, so any alien species knows where we are to come and kill us. The not so bright part of the mission
Why would Aliens waste time coming to kill us when they can just watch from a distance and see just how good we are at killing ourselves.
We are the biggest threat to any life in the entire Universe.
Man has barely if at all evolved since He started killing on this planet.
Perhaps if they join TZ they can also see how petty and childish some Humans are too each other!......re "stuff for sale"....
Last edited by P9CLY; 25th April 2024 at 16:55.
No matter how clever we like to think we are, our time here is limited.
Time did not exist.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Too much work to even start thinking about it. We're here so how it started is a thunk too far for me.
Or are we really here?
You are here. We're just watching you.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Thanks kindly. I do have my MacBook camera covered up though, so it may appear to be darker than it is.
Still doesn't according to Adams, "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so".
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Dont we have people employed in "think tanks" to answer stuff like this.
And with that,what is a think tank,and where is it.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
