

Voyager 1 Speeds Toward The Brink Of Interstellar Space - ilamont
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/12/26/143676838/voyager-1-speeds-toward-the-brink-of-interstellar-space

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vbtemp
On HN I would have expected more people to be super excited about the on-board
computers, instruments, and particularly the RF subsystem on the voyager
spacecraft (think about it - it's something like a 40 watt transmitter -- the
strengh of a lightbulb -- radiating between 10 and 10000 bits a second back to
earth 11 billion miles away). AND the round-trip latency is 26 hours! Recently
they had to do a marathon debug session to discover a bit-error in the memory
[http://www.space.com/8355-problem-detected-
voyager-2-spacecr...](http://www.space.com/8355-problem-detected-
voyager-2-spacecraft-edge-solar-system.html)

Everyone just seems so caught up about this whole alien thing. Come on guys,
there are serious things to get excited about here.

~~~
sek
I don't understand much about it, but i am impressed how robust this thing is.
Especially when you know the tech industry as it is today, these are complete
different design principles.

We should focus on faster space gear, so we don't have to wait so long when
anything happens to Voyager. Does anybody know something about solar-sails, i
heard they can theoretically accelerate to 1/10 light speed.

~~~
vbtemp
New Horizons has set the speed record for spaceflight, and is racing toward
pluto and will make it in record time. However, its RTG doesn't have the
longevity of Voyager's, so New Horizons won't last nearly as long. NH does
have an extended mission, but nothing will match the voyagers': the stars and
planets -- _literally_ \-- aligned, and it's an opportunity that will probably
never come again.

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suprgeek
What I find impressively Optimistic is that not only is there significant info
on board about Humans (anatomy and such), there is a complete record of how to
find us.

This reflects the belief that any Interstellar intelligence that encounters it
will be benign or at least not aggressive enough to come looking for us or
even worse tries to take us out with a remote hit for reasons unfathomable to
us.

This is probably the Cosmic version of the belief "People are basically Good".

~~~
sneak
I recall reading somewhere (Ringworld, perhaps?) that the explanation to the
Fermi Paradox is that anyone who sticks their head up over the wall gets it
shot off.

Fact is, the Universe would be a terribly lonely place if we were all alone. I
suppose we're willing to risk destruction/enslavement by a superior or hostile
alien civilization just to not have to exist all alone.

~~~
maushu
My hypothesis is that we are alone and the creation of sapient life is a very
very rare thing.

The chance of life appearing, on top of the chance of the life being capable
of getting more complex (multi-cellular), on top of the chance of life getting
sapient, without counting the chances of the uncountable iterations between
these steps...

...we can always uplift other Earth's animals.

~~~
campnic
Even forgoing the other comments on the number of
universes/galaxies/stars/planets in existence, how do you reach this
hypothesis given that you have only one example of evolution to draw
inferences from. The entire train of thought is derailed that the only
reliable information we have on evolutionary systems is our own system and,
using this information, we can only conclude that every planet on which we
have found microbial life we have also found sapient life.

~~~
randallsquared
Divide the known history of the Earth into ten million year increments, and
the fraction of them with life is quite high compared to the fraction with
intelligence.

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ck2
You know what blows my mind but everyone takes for granted?

Inertia. Sure, gravity is an amazing, mysterious force, but inertia in a
vacuum boggles my comprehension. Why does something with physical mass keep
going without any additional energy applied to it - forever?

Think about Voyager - if no other force got in its way, it could literally
keep cruising for 50 billion light-years and maybe "bounce" off the wall of
the universe like something out of The Truman Show. (of course since the
universe keeps expanding it might have to go more than 50 billion light-years)

~~~
jeggers5
It's actually quite simple.

When you throw a ball, it only slows down because of friction with the air
surrounding it or because it hits something.

When you give an object force, it will just keep going because there is no
opposing force to diminish the force you gave it in the first place.

Hope that makes some semblance of sense!

~~~
ck2
Oh I understand the physics of it and why it's harder to grasp the concept on
earth with gravity and friction.

But stop and think about it - the universe is like some kind of infinite iced-
over pond where something will keep going and going and going once given
momentum.

I mean in space it's sliding endlessly across "nothingness" - doesn't that
kinda freak you out when you really think about it?

~~~
colkassad
It makes sense if you accept that there is no concept of absolute rest. The
state of "moving" is really the natural state...when you apply force to
something, you are just changing the parameters of that state.

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fufulabs
"...Have you eaten yet? Come visit us if you have time." < Poor choice of
words.

~~~
yaix
That's just usual chinese greeting. "Have you eten yet?" is what in english
would be "How are you doing?"

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noahlt
When you read about astrophysics it sounds like we already have everything all
figured out. It's kind of astounding that no man made object has ever actually
left the Solar System yet.

~~~
megablast
The solar system is huge, Voyager still won't leave our classical definition
of the solar system for many, many years.

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heaPh1oo
> And in Amoy, a language from eastern China, the records carry this message:
> "Friends of space, how are you all? Have you eaten yet? Come visit us if you
> have time."

Come and munch out on the human race?

~~~
cdk
From what I've heard. "Have you eaten yet?" in Chinese is a friendly way of
greeting someone.

~~~
vbtemp
When I was in Thailand, I was always a bit befuddled when people would greet
me and say "Hi! Did you eat?", but not actually invite me to eat or something.
"Have you eaten/did you eat?" seems to be the east-asian equivalent of "hi,
what's up?". i.e., an apparent question in which your response is just a
formality.

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S_A_P
a few questions about Voyager 1- Is it designed to withstand re-entry into an
"earth-like" planet? It just seems like the odds are astronomically low that
this thing would find its way to intelligent life. I understand that it makes
sense to put some information about our existence on it, but it seems that
worrying that someone will come hunt us down and take our resources is not
even worth thinking about.

~~~
vbtemp
No, its extended mission was designed to measure energetic particles at large
distances from the sun (plus a few other field sensors). That's it. The whole
"golden record" thing is just a monument to ourselves.

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miles_matthias
What data collection is the Voyager doing? What do we have an opportunity to
learn from it about space?

~~~
Nick_C
The boundary of the heliosphere and the other bits it entails.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliosphere>

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toksaitov
34 years of uptime. Fascinating.

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brianmackey
Haven't we learned our lesson about V'ger getting too far away?
<http://youtu.be/A6lDseU2GkI>

