Voyager 1 and 2

[Rusty Heap]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_program#:~:text=Voyager%201%20and%20Voyage r%202%20have%20identical%20computer%20systems.,%2D volatile%20plated%2Dwire%20memory.



amazing the craft is still working...............using 1970's transistors and basic electronics.

bits per second radio speed that takes forever to reach the space craft.

[GH85Carrera]

Yea, 18 hours at the speed of light to get there, and receive a reply.

The plutonium based power supply might well last 50 years or more. And we are still learning things about our solar system from them.

[HobieMarty]

Good ol 70s tech!!!

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Steve Carlton]

I'm sure we'll hear back.

[Rusty Heap]

still have my Dads slide rule, have no idea how to use it.



he worked on the Saturn V.



I worked on the Delta IV heavy Rocket, defense launch platform. I designed all the Servo alignment join of all the rocket sections


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA3YVriWnvI

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Jet Propulsion Labs (JPL, Pasadena CA) Antennas in Australia, Spain & Ridgecrest CA. are used to listen & talk to them.

[RNajarian]

I remember touring the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1982. The engineer/tour guide said if all goes well we can expect to receive data from the Voyager Spacecraft through 2020.

Current estimates based on power saving measures now estimate the spacecraft lasting into the 2030s. The likely reason for the loss of signal will be the extreme distance the spacecraft will be at that time.

Remarkable pieces of engineering and management.

[Steve Carlton]

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by RNajarian

I remember touring the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1982. The engineer/tour guide said if all goes well we can expect to receive data from the Voyager Spacecraft through 2020.

Current estimates based on power saving measures now estimate the spacecraft lasting into the 2030s. The likely reason for the loss of signal will be the extreme distance the spacecraft will be at that time.

Remarkable pieces of engineering and management.

and on a budget of less than 900 million.

[RNajarian]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

and on a budget of less than 900 million.

Oh excellent point! I remember the engineer said the program cost each American taxpayer the equivalent of one Hershey chocolate bar, at the time $0.25

[pmax]

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Rusty Heap

still have my Dads slide rule, have no idea how to use it.



he worked on the Saturn V.



I worked on the Delta IV heavy Rocket, defense launch platform. I designed all the Servo alignment join of all the rocket sections


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA3YVriWnvI

Slide rules work using logarithms. In the "old days", if you want to multiply 2 big numbers, you pulled out the log tables. You find the log based 10 of each number, add them together, then reverse the process (10 to the x power). Small tables are good to three or 4 decimal places. I have books of 7 place logs.

The slide rule is a shortcut by estimating the log of each number and it adds the two together.

[red-beard]

The Picket N600-ES was the most common one used by the NASA engineers

[Jolly Amaranto]

I still have my old K&E.

[Jolly Amaranto]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

The plutonium based power supply might well last 50 years or more.

My dad was one of the "Co-conspirators" that helped fake the moon landings.
He was involved with the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) that each mission left behind on the moon. Each was powered by a RTG (Radioisotope Thermal Generator) that used a cylinder of plutonium to generate heat. I used one of the manuals he brought home to cobble together a replica of one for a high school physics class project. Of course I did not have a source for plutonium so I used long appliance incandescent light bulb to produce heat for demonstration. It was placed inside an aluminum tube to which I mounted a bunch of thermocouples from Edmund Scientific on the outside. I mounted strips of aluminum channel on top of those for heat sinks. The thermocouples were wired to a load along with an ammeter and volt meter.

[Rusty Heap]

My Dad was tickled pink when he brought home one of the first Casio model FOUR function LED calculator.

Plus Minus Times and Divide. Maybe a SQ root key if you were lucky, I think he spend a couple hundred dollars on it............such a powerful calculation machine.

so what did we do with it ? Spell words upside down like 54377 (Shell) or 80085 was boobs.....

4 AA batteries only lasted a couple hours.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by Jolly Amaranto

I still have my old K&E.

Misplaced my old K&E but I still have my pocket sized slide rule. It fit into my pocket protector.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Rusty Heap

My Dad was tickled pink when he brought home one of the first Casio model FOUR function LED calculator.

Plus Minus Times and Divide. Maybe a SQ root key if you were lucky, I think he spend a couple hundred dollars on it............such a powerful calculation machine.

so what did we do with it ? Spell words upside down like 54377 (Shell) or 80085 was boobs.....

4 AA batteries only lasted a couple hours.

My dad brought home a "work" HP 35 calculator in about 1972. Amazing device. When he changed jobs, he opted for a Ti SR-71 (rechargeable), which became the Ti-30 (9 volt).

In 1980, just about everyone in my class had a Ti-30. The nerds put the case on their belts. It was the pocket protector of the 1980's.