This is so fuking cool
I am filled with pride that we collectively made something that will likely out live our sun, and we continue to find ingenious ways to keep it going and going
What a cool time to be alive
this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2026
495 points (99.4% liked)
Technology
83893 readers
2889 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Here are Images Voyager Took.
I have no idea how to sort them by recency; I'm guessing it's not sending such expensive data anymore, but what are the most recent (and furthest) images?
Why can't we be as forward thinking as the people who created the voyager probes?
Voyager 1 was launched in 1977 - just before the Reagan era. Coincidence?
Also, and I'm still just guessing here, it's probably the culmination of the space race to the moon minus the pressure to be there before the Russians.
In other words, NASA's Golden Age.
Also, the tech was "just right" then. Small and frugal enough to fit on a probe but still robust enough to survive more than a few years in space.
Now please show an inflation adjusted graph or better one that shows in percentage how much each fraction owns of the wealth pie.
Jesus that is a sobering figure I did not need to see today.
And it’s quite outdated, I think from 2022. It has become much worse since
It's not profitable
not enough engineers use LSD anymore because they'll lose their entire career over it and be blacklisted from government contracts forever.
the McCarthys won.
Thanks for the uplifting news!
What a badass little craft to have kept operating for so long. 🫡
A truly beautiful piece of engineering
Check out AMSAT-OSCAR 7 -- Closer to home, but launched in 1974, and still waking up when there's sun to operate. It's the oldest "operational" satellite still up there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMSAT-OSCAR_7
Cool that the Polish opposition used it to get around wire tapping.
AMSAT = Amateur Satellite! Holy shit. Amateur, my ass.
Fucking A good on ya for the heads up. I somehow haven't heard of this one.
It is amazing they can detect and communicate to something with such a weak signal so far away.
So far away that it takes an entire day to get the signal to it. The earth to the sun is 8 minutes.
And somehow we can still talk to it. It's amazing.
About 1/3 of a % of a lightyear that's hardcore that we've gotten something out that far.
It also gives you an idea of how big space is. Lots and lots of nothing.
This, coupled with the improbable idea that it could be "found" someday, has got to be one of the most exciting and magical concepts in science ever
1-2 day ETA for an interstellar telegram lol
NASA's Voyager engineers are like the final evolution of your uncle that keeps his 1974 Chevy C/K running at 400,000 miles. It's the same autism across an ocean of resources.
Actually basically yes. NASA has had decades of practice at minimum viable operation capability, making their spacecraft and rovers all but drag themselves along even when anything else would stop working.
RTGs are subject to the issue of half-life - this is a consequence of that type of power source. Though, let’s be honest: we do not have any other sort of power generation technology that would be viable for literal decades on an interstellar space probe. And we definitely didn’t have a better alternative when they were launched.
For roughly three milliseconds I thought to myself they shoulda used solar panels instead.
"Oh, wait...."
Well they could power a lamp that shines on the solar panels.
Use the heat from the lamp to boil some water and you're in business.
This photo was taken after Voyager was launched, NASA didn’t have the technology yet
load more comments
(1 replies)
which would shut down components on its own to safeguard the probe, requiring recovery by the flight team — a lengthy process that carries its own risks.
Uhhh... how the fuck are you planning on recovering it?
Really long stick
New Hobby unlocked: Skyfishing
I think what they mean is that if the thing starts shutting stuff down on its own, the process to get those things started again is tedious. While if the humans tell it to shut things down, it is all more orderly.
Jumper cables.
Makes me wonder how the jumper cables guy is doing.
Hahaha I said the same thing
load more comments
(3 replies)
view more: next ›