

Voyager Set to Enter Interstellar Space - pwg
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/28apr_voyager/

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jaysonelliot
It just so happens I was listening to some beautiful 1970s space music when I
read this (Tangerine Dream, if you're interested).

The dreams of exploration we had from the time of the first man in space
through the 1980s were so wonderful and optimistic. I grew up reading OMNI and
Discover, watching Carl Sagan on television and playing with toy Space
Shuttles.

When the Voyager left earth, we believed that man would walk on Mars by the
end of the millennium, and that first contact was just around the corner. It
was unthinkable that, in 2011, we would be seeing the end of the Space Shuttle
with nothing to replace it and the suspension of SETI.

I hope that moments of wonder like Voyager leaving the solar system, still
functioning, will light our collective spirit and inspire us to remember why
we wanted to reach for the stars in the first place.

~~~
calebmpeterson
> It just so happens I was listening to some beautiful 1970s space music when
> I read this (Tangerine Dream, if you're interested).

Thank you for introducing me to Tangerine Dream.

~~~
bane
I was just going to say thanks for reminding me about TD, I haven't listened
to them in a while...but now I'm back on them ;)

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haberman
The article reminded me of this classic story of geek-love between Carl Sagan
and Ann Druyan as they were creating the "gold record" that is traveling on
both Voyagers.

[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1235348...](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123534818)

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calebmpeterson
Every time I read about either Voyager I/II or Pioneer 10/11 I am amazed at
just how vast space is. Nothing like spending the better part of 50 years to
go an incredible distance - a distance, which is so small in the grand scheme
of things...

At the same time I'm delighted to be alive during a part of history in which
humanity accomplished such a pitifully tiny and yet monumental feat.

~~~
brudgers
> _"Nothing like spending the better part of 50 years to go an incredible
> distance - a distance, which is so small in the grand scheme of things"_

50 years is very short on a galactic scale as well.

~~~
calebmpeterson
True, and yet it's a good chunk of a lifetime for a human.

~~~
brudgers
Until recently, 50 miles was a long distance for a human to travel.

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cal5k
It's almost as if the universe was created to mock us. So much space to
explore, but physical law makes it impossible to explore more than the
smallest, most insignificant fraction.

~~~
rorrr
Which is why we need to work on the aging problem. Once that is solved, we can
explore all we want.

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naz
We've already solved that with reproduction. We need to figure out how to out-
live our planet.

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prawn
I think we know much of what we need to know (the basics: how to procreate,
how to create a craft, etc; plus the steps to take) but the costs are just a
little hard to justify for many given existing world problems and a
predilection to just fighting everything.

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nooneelse
If it is a generation ship or some other from of slow craft (and aren't they
all at the scales we are discussing), then it needs to contain a biosphere if
it is going to take humans in their current form. We aren't anywhere near good
at making those at all.

Unless we are thinking about some form of entirely synthetic food and oxygen
production, in which case, we aren't any better at those really.

~~~
prawn
True, true - but with funds and 5-10 years, surely we could ramp up a serious
shot?

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veb
Fantastic read!

Fantastic technology! This stuff is old, but it _still_ works
_extraordinarily_ well. They sure knew how to engineer stuff then. They say
that they might keep going until 2020 -- I bet those bad boys will surprise us
and keep on kicking for much longer!

~~~
rflrob
> They sure knew how to engineer stuff then.

Arguably, the current generation of engineers aren't too shabby themselves.
Spirit and Opportunity were designed to last 90 sols, with their actual
missions lasting some 25 times that, and Opportunity is still knocking about
up there.

~~~
veb
On a second thought, you're absolutely right. There's really no way I can tell
what's good engineering or bad in present time until a few decades down the
track.

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icehawk
Voyager is a beautiful example of reliable code and engineering. 30 years and
10 billion miles out, and still functioning.

~~~
jeza
This was back in a time when one guy could be familiar with every single line
of code running on a computer, from user space programs right down to the
kernel. This level of simplicity surely did wonders for reliability. Not to
say you couldn't achieve good results with a more complex modern system,
though to spend a lot more time making things failsafe.

~~~
Deestan
> This was back in a time when one guy could be familiar with every single
> line of code running on a computer, from user space programs right down to
> the kernel.

This is still possible, by the way. Humanity hasn't lost the ability to create
simple computers. :) We just see less of them because the complex ones are
more useful for day-to-day life.

~~~
jasongullickson
I'd argue that more complex ones (appear) beneficial to programmers more than
anything else (users don't appear to benefit from complexity).

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daimyoyo
The fact is that we won't break the bonds of earth with NASA. Decades of
bureaucracy and budget cutting has left them as little more than another
government agency that exists solely to expand and maintain it's own budget.
I'm 29 years old. So is the space shuttle program. It's completely
unacceptable that we are taking 30 year old vehicles to space. Would you trust
a 30 year old sedan on a cross country road trip? I wouldn't. And now, the
program is being discontinued with nothing ready to replace it. We are going
to have to rely on Russia until we can get our next rocket operational. If the
men who created the Apollo program were told that one day we'd rely on the
Russians for our space travel, they'd laugh you out of the room. Also, why
haven't we been to the Moon in nearly 40 years? Is there nothing worth
exploring left on the entire thing? Thank(insert deity here) that companies
like Space X are taking up the slack. It's unfortunate that NASA has fallen so
far, but it has.

~~~
jordan0day
Your 30 year old sedan analogy is terrible. A space shuttle isn't a "daily
driver" that NASA changes the oil in every three months or 3 million miles.
They're meticulously maintained. Yes, they're old tech and certainly in need
of replacement, but they're not bad just because they're old.

Heck, thousands of people use the Golden Gate bridge every day, and it's 70
years old!

Anyway, I'm much less pessimistic w.r.t. NASA than you. Am I disappointed that
we don't have permanent bases on the moon and mars? Most definitely. I'm a
huge fan of space exploration, and I really wish we were farther along. That
said, NASAs robotic exploration continues to impress. There have been
failures, mismanagement and poor performance in plenty of cases, but I'd be
willing to pay even more tax to increase NASAs budget. I still view them as a
good example of things the public sector can do right.

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paraschopra
I'm so proud of Humanity right now. Thousands of years later when future
Historians would be studying our period, I am sure they will feel proud about
the far-sighted decision this Voyager project had been. Future scientist may
thank us for setting a benchmark they now have to excel.

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pwg
How many years until V'Ger returns home?

~~~
prawn
For anyone who didn't get the 'joke' (like me) and who knows nothing about
Star Trek (also me), turns out that "V'Ger" is a Star Trek character. From
Wikipedia:

"A sentient being that evolved from Voyager 6, a fictitious space probe from
the 20th Century that vanished into a black hole and was given life by a race
of living machines. The story of V'ger and its return to Earth to seek "the
creator" forms the plot for the first feature film in the Star Trek series,
Star Trek: The Motion Picture."

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reallyacow
I'm personally waiting for V-GINY.

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coderdude
It must suck to create a new account, just to have your first comment failguy
out and render your account useless. Won't the auto-kill feature just
automatically deaden any future posts from this guy? Seems like a poor way to
nurture possible good HNizens who make a mistake or two in the beginning.

Technically he was only following the example of the V'Ger guy who isn't being
downvoted.

~~~
prawn
V'Ger guy was being downvoted initially.

