What Happened to Voyager 1?

NASA just regained contact with humanity’s most distant spacecraft! Here’s why they LOST contact and the clever way they fixed it.
This probe, Voyager 1, is 46 years old and over 15 billion miles away. But starting last November, it started sending repeated gibberish…
This isn’t the first time scientists have run into issues with this 46-year-old probe, which isn’t surprising. But I just love the dedication of NASA scientists who refuse to give up on this little probe that keeps trekking further into our universe than humans ever have before.
If you like optimistic science and tech stories, subscribe for more!
#science #space #animation #sciencefacts #voyager1

[@smarty4822]

The fact that they were able to fix it remotely is insane after a hardware failure

[@stevenn1940]

With *radio* from *15 billion miles away*

[@ImproMooray]

If this had been an apple voyager ultra Pro Max they would have encountered planned obsolescence features to keep it from being fixed and their only option would have been to buy a voyager ultra pro Max 2 and wait another 46 years for it to reach Interstellar space.

[@shikharkapoor8165]

​@@ImproMoorayI hope apple doesn't make a satellite

[@Three_Random_Words]

Smarty why is your comment eerily similar to the comment above this? Copy bot.

[@ImproMooray]

Hey you have an Indian name @@shikharkapoor8165 btw Mai Himachal se hu!

[@diegolarrea7932]

The fact that they were able to remotely reprogram a 46 year old computer from 15 billion miles away only using radio signals would make Alan Turing proud

[@thampuran3205]

Actually its a concept of bootloader and code flash...but its amazing how they built that in a 46 year old satelite

[@ckpioo]

​@@thampuran3205 yeah it's nothing new, technically we do it all the time just the difference is that our computers aren't far

[@rickkwitkoski1976]

@diegolarrea7932 Do you update your phone via wifi or Bluetooth? Radio. Just short range.

[@chronozeta]

@@thampuran3205They also hired people specially for this who can use that old code language

[@Ikgeloofhetniet]

@@ckpioo Yes, but that doesn't make it any less incredible.

[@blacklight683]

The fact they atleast had the foresight to make it reprogrammable is crazy this is absolutely amazing

[@FahimHoq]

Yeah and that too 46yrs ago. Didn't know we had that sort of tech back then.

[@Niamh9902]

Well yeah it cost like a billion dollars

[@cplcabs]

not amazing, common sense.

[@bryanmavis8771]

​@@cplcabs even flying wasn't "common sense" not too long ago. Stop being such a snob 😂

[@jtidema]

@@bryanmavis8771 I worked on a lot of large hardware and software projects 46 years ago. The idea that something would have to be upgraded and reprogrammed was baked into everything we did. If anything our shortsightedness was in the fact that we didn’t realize how quickly things would become outmoded, so we expected that we were programming for a long product life. That being said this is still pretty damn impressive.

[@MaxVisser-z1o]

That "Ay yo fix the code" and then the "da code is too big lol" got me rolling for some reason😂

[@XxXMysticalStarXxX]

Fr I was waiting till someone was gonna talk abt this 😂

[@candydandy2694]

same! I lost it at the 'LOL'! hahaha!

[@ohalee-nkwochachijioke7624]

Likee😂😂😂😂

[@angelamurphy6233]

Ditto 😂😂😂

[@AGENTZackY]

Sounds like south indian accent

[@juliuswaldmann8682]

I always amazed me how modular and redundant the Voyager was designed almost 50 years ago. like even if theres a problem with communicating you can still tell it to reroute data to other places. Truly a marvel of engineering

[@zaratustra27]

If only they built cell phones like this

[@soacespacestation8556]

​@@zaratustra27 Phones need constant upgrades, Voyager does not. The two are not comparable in anyway

[@originzz]

@@zaratustra27then you'd never buy another one, then all of a sudden the smartphone industry goes poof

[@YOEL_44]

​@@soacespacestation8556 You want those upgrades as a user, you don't really need them... My last smartphone was a 2014 Xperia Z3, it lasted me 6 years, and I used it with the same version of Slimm ROM 3.8 (Android 6) since day 1, and if I had been more careful I would still probably use it.

[@YungLimox]

@@soacespacestation8556 the only difference is one is for customers, aka money machines, and the other is for science (and also bragging purposes for the government) Proof they can make things last: look at any product made before around 2008

[@habib6806]

Imagine writing code and it takes 22hrs/44hrs to run just to find out you got an error

[@pizza88]

I guess the radio can be sent continuously but very very impressive

[@dweiss1]

Yeah, I was wondering if they have a duplicate of Voyager's electronics on earth that they can use to test.

[@animehair05silently88]

​@@dweiss1I'm about 100% sure they do have a duplicate on earth, for reference and to try out fixes on

[@animehair05silently88]

​@@dweiss1they also did that with other ones, like the stationary probe that the guy in The Martian dug up and multiple Rovers

[@rhouser1280]

This thing has been shooting through space my entire life, & it’s only 22 light hours away. Really puts into perspective how far away our nearest neighbor is at only 4 light years away

[@anotherday-anotherslay]

that's crazy

[@eliyahubenysrael6272]

Took us 46 years to travel the distance light travels in 22 hours. 😮

[@eamonburns9597]

It's been in space for more than twice my lifetime.... that's insane

[@greatleader4841]

yeah we aint never reaching the nearest neighbor...shits gonna take like 30,000 years.

[@jacobflores1781]

It’s also just floating at the mercy of solar wind. We would use some type of rocket booster to go way faster which means more distance with less time

[@spiritedaway0tutu]

The coolest part about all of this is that voyager one and its twin voyager two were only meant to last for 5 years, survey 2 planets in our solar system, and run on 470 watts at launch. That is less than two standard 240 watt lightbulbs. Now, Voyager 1 runs on just 249 watts. What was supposed to be a 5 year mission has now been expanded to a 59 year mission, projected for finally end in 2036. A mission that they reprogrammed from earth and one that has outlived its original length by 42 years and runs on the power of a single 240 watt lightbulb. The story of Voyager One is INSANE, and is one of the best examples of human ingenuity.

[@no1unorightnow]

Where do you find these "standard 240 W light bulb"?

[@spiritedaway0tutu]

@@no1unorightnow Pretty much every hardware and home improvement store on the planet. Or you could steal them from builder grade light fixtures if you feel like committing petty theft I guess.

[@no1unorightnow]

@@spiritedaway0tutu 100 W is the most I've seen outside of some very specialized equipment

[@spiritedaway0tutu]

@@no1unorightnow I have a few of them lying around my house, actually, but we also have a handful of odd light fixtures. 200s and 250s are absolutely everywhere if you want the higher watt more standard lightbulbs. I honestly probably should have used 250s for this comment’s example, now that I’m thinking about it.

[@no1unorightnow]

@@spiritedaway0tutu Interesting! Are you in the USA, too? I'm wondering if the difference in experiences comes down to something regional. 40, 60, 100 were the Wattages of pretty much every standard incandescent light bulb I've seen. Plenty of halogen theater lights I've worked with rated for, 375, 575, and 750, though.

[@investing1223]

For perspective, this launched 46 years ago and travel 22 billion miles. 1 single lightyear is over 1.7 trillion miles. The next closest planet outside our solar system is 4.25 lightyears away and the next closest galaxy is over 2 million lightyears away. Shows how impossible it is to really get anywhere in the universe or even our own galaxy.

[@idrisahmed2659]

The farthest we might be going is to the edge of the solar system and even that seems like an impossible feat .... Getting a human to land on Mars is as far as we get in the foreseeable future .....

[@manabouttongue]

Using our present technology.

[@robertgift6762]

Only impossible by slow light speed.

[@OctaApe]

At the speed of light it takes 8 mins for sun light to reach earth, once it reaches earth it can travel around the planet 8 times a second. Also at the speed of light, it will take 100,000 years to cross the span of our tiny milky way galaxy.

[@maddysheabitch]

*for conventional travel

[@ProfDanielVargas]

Imagine having to reprogram a 46 year old machine with the memory of a few calculators, through radio signals which take hours to reach it, with a faulty/damaged communications chip unit, traveling at extremely high speeds through the vacuum of space. That's why NASA is NASA and I'm right here watching this right now while eating chips, sitting on my sofa, doing nohing on a Saturday night but watch a few seconds long clips on my tiny handheld rectangle.

[@vikj1255]

exactly. And having someone who knows who to write code for this thing...

[@ProfDanielVargas]

@@vikj1255 exactly.

[@Chriscam2you]

Yup

[@skewminds3756]

I can imagine the pain it must have given the coders to wait to test their new code and find the errors for 44 hours each time as a programmer myself 😢

[@willemschottert]

This is amazing stuff

[@arterca]

I do love that they continue to support Voyager. The Voyager team is so dedicated to solving problems. Many other teams would have given up by now.

[@who_knows_idk]

my great grandad helped design the navigation system, so I'm glad the current team is still working with it

[@duoshingaming6750]

@@who_knows_idk your great grandad still around ????

[@who_knows_idk]

@duoshingaming6750 he passed away a few years ago

[@duoshingaming6750]

@@who_knows_idk sorry to hear that, I would've loved to talk with him 😔

[@who_knows_idk]

@@duoshingaming6750 he was a great guy, thank you

[@zadman49]

I think voyager 1 and the sustainment of it is one of humanity’s greatest achievements. Immensely hard problems continually solved for knowledge’s sake

[@victor9]

yet a 2023 Macbook can't be fixed at a "Genius" bar

[@ALBINO1D]

What do you expect with a group of people who have to call themselves geniuses?

[@teabags2day]

Its all intentional.

[@weasle2904]

Stop buying Apple... They're made by abused Chinese workers, are designed to slow down and break, and designed to be impossible to repair YOUR OWN DEVICE YOU BOUGHT. They illegally violate our right to repair, but because they have money and buy out our politicians they don't get in trouble.

[@TaseJaw]

they are scientists buddy probably the smartest people out there in the planet, what are you even comparing them to

[@GaussianEntity]

Apple purposefully makes those difficult to repair. Right to repair and planned obsolescence, it's a rabbit hole but one worth going into to see cheap practices these corporations use to keep you buying new stuff.

[@tjmoon1857]

Poor little voyager1. So cold and alone. What a brave little probe...

[@historytank5673]

The day we discover a form of lightspeed travel we should make it our mission to find the two probes and put them in a museum

[@tjmoon1857]

@@historytank5673 that's a really cool idea! Imagine if we found it and it had alien graffiti on it

[@historytank5673]

@@tjmoon1857 well that’s one way to get proof lol 😂 We can change the message from “Is anyone else out there” to “Oi! Who the hell graffitied our probe!”

[@DarkMatterX1]

Stop anthropomorphizing objects.

[@historytank5673]

@@DarkMatterX1 never

[@BlueDice37]

Lemme put 15 billion miles into perspective: 1. The circumference of Earth is about 24,901 miles. If you traveled 15 billion miles, you could circle the Earth roughly 602,188 times. 2. The average distance from Earth to the Moon is about 238,855 miles. You could travel to the Moon and back around 31,413 times. 3. The average distance from Earth to the Sun is about 93 million miles. Traveling 15 billion miles would be like going to the Sun and back about 161 times. 4. Light travels at approximately 186,282 miles per second. It would take light about 22 hours and 23 minutes to travel 15 billion miles. The voyager is travelling at a speed of roughly 38,000 miles per hour. That's really crazy if you think about it.

[@mamoros56]

Wow - I want a 46-year warranty on my electronics! 😅

[@heronimousbrapson863]

It's truly sobering when you realize that the craft is almost a half century old and still operating at some level.

[@AverageJoe-12]

At least that is what they tell us just before they ask for more funding.

[@cameronmcallister7606]

@@AverageJoe-12 The entire Voyager program costs around $5,000,000 per year. That isn't even a fraction of the US military budget, so I don't think NASA is asking us to dig deep into our pockets, here.

[@lancelot9312]

​@@cameronmcallister7606b-but its an unnecessary expense! : Says the 820 billion defense budget.

[@grantbernhardt6022]

​@AverageJoe-12 Nasa's entire budget not even 1% of the USA Budget. If the USA budget was a dollar Nasa's budget would not be even half of a penny you realize?

[@sethshapiro5973]

I feel the same sentiment about myself.

[@720MotorWorks]

the fact that we can reprogram a spacecraft that’s 15 billion miles away and almost half a century old is astonishing

[@trence5]

It's mind boggling......

[@russ212]

Mind boggling and unbelievable, meaning this story is not believable.

[@720MotorWorks]

@@russ212 lol what

[@sigmundfriedchicken]

@@russ212you’re hilarious.

[@ollympian_art]

@@russ212story too big and complex for Grug brain to handle. Grug no believe. Grug keep thing simple and chew on rock.

[@MultiMaker_Studios]

“Fix yourself” “Ight” I didn’t know Voyager 1 was chill like that

[@LeoDas688]

The fact that we can even communicate with a probe from such a distance is mindboggling

[@bettymontalvo6996]

Yet it the year of our lord 2024 Verizon is still dropping my calls 💀

[@manin10]

The amazing thing is that it's been on the move for 46 years and it's only 22 light hours away. Edit: I probably didn't word this well, but what I mean is it's traveling at a fairly high rate of speed (61,500km/h) considering it was launched in 1977. Just gives you an idea of the vastness of everything.

[@georgespalding7640]

The sad thing is, it’s still got a little over 18,000 years before it reaches its first light year and that will pretty much be the outer limits of our solar system.

[@Connection-Lost]

@@georgespalding7640 70,000 years to reach another star system

[@achintsingh4552]

@@georgespalding7640how do you guys get to know this information? Genuinely curious

[@RubelliteFae]

@@achintsingh4552 Must be one of them "readers" I heard about

[@idkanymore6897]

@@achintsingh4552 theres plenty of information sources out there, google has most of the answers you want

[@TimoIvvie]

“HELP IM LITERALLY DYING.” “Nuh uh.” “NO I AM.” “Nuh uh.” “Okay fine”

[@CR7Update]

I could've sworn I saw some video talking about how we lost contact with voyager 1 forever because some hardware malfunctioned beyond repair and I felt a peculiar depressing feeling but this genuinely made me happy that we still have contact with it and can send messages to it

[@DarkMatterX1]

I just want to thank you for writing the appropriate _could've,_ instead of the increasingly ubiquitous illiterate version "could of."

[@gleofox]

​@DarkMatterX1 could of kept that to yourself

[@DarkMatterX1]

@@gleofox I could've, but I didn't. Some things need to be said.

[@beem4292]

@gleofox How is anyone supposed to learn if everyone kept these things to themselves? Languages get lost in time, it’s important to teach others.

[@gleofox]

@@beem4292 language also evolves over time. It's important not to restrict others.

[@polycrystallinecandy]

Fun fact: They've been slowly shutting down its instruments over the years. It's powered by an RTG (basically heat from radioactive decay) since there's no solar power that far out. RTGs last for decades, but their power output decreases over time. So they've had to strategically shut down instruments to keep it alive, based on what they anticipate being useful as it travels into the interstellar space.

[@KennethDavid-n8n]

fuging brilliant!!!

[@MeIn321]

Voyager says, "Look, you sent me all the way out here. I'm cold and want to come home."

[@Ruthavecflute]

Sorry dude. You don't have the propellent for it

[@RobMeijerUk]

If scientists can fix their code from the other side of the solar system, then I should be allowed to fix mine working from home.

[@jeschinstad]

That's what we Free Software guys call Freedom 1.

[@buryatianspy5594]

There's one problem. Voyager 1 costs 900 million + 100 million dollars to operate every mission for such thing. Your pre-built PC from Costco costs like ±200-700 dollars.

[@Hewesesm]

Unless you the business owner not happening lmfao

[@jeschinstad]

@@buryatianspy5594 They use old computers in space craft for a reason. So he has a point. The space craft is not all that relevant. The problem is the modern denial of repair. An Android phone, for instance, becomes mostly garbage after a time simply because you can't practically maintain the OS, while a GNU+Linux device can be repaired forever.

[@Max_G4]

​@@buryatianspy5594 What are you talking about? This comment was not about fixing the PC, it was about programming in Home Office

[@TacticalShino]

The Voyager probe builders were and are absolute geniuses. Incredible engineering

[@Nikolas-g5z]

The fact it can respond with an understanding of problems and challenges of tasks is insane

[@NitinPatelIndia]

It is fascinating, the original creators had the foresight to know that the code will need to be changed from a distance & they made it flexible that we can do that now.

[@noctis_rune]

Not surprised since it was most likely standard protocol to build several layers of contingencies for each systems. What's impressive is not that the code can be changed, but the amount of options one can use in case the main system fails. The main idea used for this project isn't novel or anything. But damn the details needed to consider to execute this isn't easy for any means

[@MrCoolwipe]

Or your being lied too and this whole story is bullshit

[@AttilatheNun-xv6kc]

Found one!

[@soacespacestation8556]

@@MrCoolwipe Or you accusing without evidence.

[@angelamurphy6233]

​@soacespacestation8556 NASA lies and I have the pictures to prove it. I challenge you Take pictures of the moon over the course of a month. Then look at the position of the shadows throughout the month. You WILL notice that the moon doesn't rotate the way they say it does. Then start taking pictures of the planets, zoomed all the way in. They aren't what we've been told

[@solovoldo]

Message: Can I come home yet? :,(

[@Connection-Lost]

It's already home

[@kmhaneul]

now i'm crying T-T

[@nguyentrananhnguyen7900]

maybe one day, human build a space craft that can reach light speed, then there will be a mission to retrieve voyager 1

[@IrisGlowingBlue]

Nah, it's like the 'Spaaaaace!' orb from Portal. In its in ideal habitat rn, learning new things, seeing stars. Writing back every so often

[@resadrecebli2263]

​@@nguyentrananhnguyen7900I'm in !!!

[@p3chv0gel22]

I love the fact that a) someone decided "No, we are not gonna let this thing die, no matter how hard" and b) an event, that would have caused major downtime on a system just a few rooms from my office (and a bit of headache for me to find the correct part to fix it, i really need to reorganize our parts shelf), could be fixed by just pushing some code to different locations, on a system on the end of our solar system

[@chaosh7040]

The edge of the solar system is about 9 billion miles away...voyager is about 15 billion miles away.

[@Afrotechmods]

That is one hell of a firmware update!

[@DemonFireRain]

Its amazing to me that they can fix something 15 billion miles away.

[@RocketLS-123]

“Hey this code is too big lol.”😭

[@blueboy4625]

Meanwhile my phone on planet earth can't be fixed by one of the worlds richest companies

[@alexjackson936]

Oh it can be fixed, probably just not worth the money and/or time. A probe like this is pretty much worth it at any cost if it’s possible.

[@coffeedate5344]

It's the rich part, not the technology part

[@jx.one_5835]

💀

[@bbqpitmaster1324]

“AY YO FIX THE CODE” 🤣

[@alicebaskervill7590]

The code is too big lol

[@MishelFayad]

That team of scientists needs a raise!!❤

[@Thanksphils]

Earth to voyager: u good bro?

[@mtrest4]

Walks with a limp.. and says.. I'm aight.

[@demolition3612]

Well, i wouldn’t give up on it either, it took 46 years to get that probe out there, I ain’t waiting another 46 years to get a probe out there again, and even then we would be 46 years behind what distance we could have covered.

[@spvillano]

They'll be failing soon anyway though, the thermocouple in the RTG that powers the probe will fail completely in a decade at most.

[@capybarinya]

​@@spvillanonews about voyajers malfunctions are popping out a lot lately, unfortunately. In my humbliest opinion, the will work properly 2 more years at max, then just loose the contact or the computer will die.

[@Algimantaz]

It may be 46 yrs in the making, but its so tiny! U can tell those NASA engineers haven’t experienced a good probe, or else they wouldn’t have made such a tiny, short lasting one! In the trash!

[@spvillano]

@@Algimantaz precisely what she told me, as I was slapped. I then extended my lasting device, my mind... Worked for an over 41 year marriage.

[@soacespacestation8556]

@@Algimantaz Sarcasm right? If not then it's only intended to last a fraction of it's current age.

[@sebastianong4649]

What's even crazier is that Voyager 1 only has around 70 kB of memory...

[@rk-fb5hw]

Today, waiting for a day or two for computer results is unthinkable, but when I started in 1970, next day was a pretty good response..

[@sunondalyons73]

As a boy when that probe was launched I believed it would travel lightyears across the universe. It has yet to travel a single light-year. I feel really snall when thinking about the true scale of the cosmos.

[@nickfraver5638]

And it has about 17,950 years to go before it is a light year from Earth

[@sunondalyons73]

@@nickfraver5638 incredible

[@Citoyen_du_Monde]

_"It has yet to travel a single light-year"_ Indeed ! It has travel only 1/400th of a lightyear distance, after those 46 years of flying at 17km/second. Yes, space is f...in' *BIG* !

[@nicmalugin-dm9ju]

Maybe we could make the next one we release reach a light year by the end of the next century!

[@sunondalyons73]

@@nicmalugin-dm9ju Not likely

[@kareemabdelfattah2195]

I love everything you report on! Thank you!!

[@KitsuneMasku]

NASA Fixing Voyager 1 is like Helping your Grandparents fix computer Via Cellphones

[@bronzejourney5784]

Both equally impossible tasks.

[@derpy9452]

@@bronzejourney5784 And both equally awarding you with the "genius" title, even if it just switching HDMI.

[@VoCodebcv]

It's infinitely more difficult.

[@mepatton]

Your grandparents invented computers and cellphones. There is very little you can teach them.

[@ReigningKaos]

​@@mepattonmy dear, my grandparents are 1. Mostly dead & 2. Escaped the camps in WW2, built a life from nothing and a house with some determination and scraps. There is a LOT they can (and did) teach me, and more that I will never have the opportunity to learn from them... but computers and tech are nowhere on that list xD I love them more than words can express, but they will be the first to confirm that fact xD

[@sanjoychandrakarmakar712]

Love how a 46 year old probe can fix itself

[@personalsigh]

How do you watch this video and conclude it fixed itself?

[@sen7826]

​@@personalsigh what they meant was that it was designed in a way that it can handle meta-instructions. Which is incredibly impressive.

[@sanjoychandrakarmakar712]

@@sen7826 thanks for the clarification

[@RubelliteFae]

I think the objection stems from OP making it sound so passive, (perhaps unintentionally) stripping away the human achievement element

[@rilwanj]

The thing I like is they architected it so well it could be reprogrammed remotely

[@ciphercircel16]

rewriting f processors that old, with such a time delay and no hardwired connection....respect💀

[@Jonassssss6]

pretty sure they have a replica and emulators to try it out on first

[@ciphercircel16]

@@Jonassssss6 true but you can't expect that to work on something thats no longer working correctly but that would make it a lot easier

[@mr.hermitsquid2694]

So many smart people it's crazy

[@moji3812]

Yeah👀

[@jorgecolato6431]

Love her love of science... make message so enjoyable

[@Soguwe]

And Nvidia can't update my drivers because my graphics card is "not there" (it still works)

[@Teh_Random_Canadian]

Try sending your computer 15 billion miles away and try again

[@augusta131]

I love how you package information into my tiny brain so well 😂

[@NomadUrpagi]

I am dealing with telecontrol right now but what they did is on the front edge of science. Massive respect and admiration.

[@glennruscher4007]

Wow ! That antique computer is still working ! V-GER 1 Ain't done yet ! 😊

[@prodHkari]

Didn't know voyager was chill like dat

[@benjaminpersyn6252]

The tenacity of the scientists involved is so admirable!!

[@UserName-eb9oy]

Meanwhile my 4 year old phone buffers when I try to type a youtube comment

[@samibichumani1176]

😂

[@NicolasTRANG]

So voyager is 0.00255 light years away from us after 47 years. It needs 73678 more years to reach Trisolaris and give our position to the Dark Forest.. that's a relief

[@JanneBernards]

This is why the dark forest hypothesis is nonsense to me. Everyone that is out there has the same problem. Distance.

[@Algimantaz]

As if our tiny probe would impress anyone 😂 pretty sure that’s why NASA made it so tiny, its a law of physics; large probes attract, tiny ones repel

[@geort45]

@@JanneBernards not extremely advanced ones?

[@JanneBernards]

@@geort45 What does that even mean? "extremely advanced ones"? There is a hard cap on how advanced one can get. At a point you run into the brick wall that is physical reality.

[@jx.one_5835]

😭

[@WahyuPlayz]

"AY YO FIX THE CODE !" was personal 😭🙏

[@gavinhazard75]

I like the enthusiasm in which she speaks, she loves her job, it is amazing that we are still in contact with voyager after all these years

[@fireant202]

Knowing Fortran for serious job security here.

[@Bob3519]

Best comment 🏆

[@aSHuNa7164]

The fact that is still working is amazing

[@Davide0033]

the fact that a computer from 46 years ago is still working so far out and without maintenance is still wild to me. especially when it's so far out. it's actually nice to see a computer that is built to last forever, with so many redundant part that can literally be phisically comanded with software. and it's impressive for new devs to work with such old software and hardware, with all the quirks of the time

[@iakdrawllim4127]

I still cannot get my head around the fact that this piece of machinery has been in space for almost twice my lifespan, and is STILL ticking along without any physical upkeep or attention. That is absolutely bizarre

[@xenonnati]

Its amazing that the voyager still functions at all let alone still sending useful information. A real marvel of engineering

[@MichaelThompson94]

I'm impressed that they made another option where flying a technician out to fix it might be less desirable.

[@HaCkEddddddd30]

That must be crazy to be able to fix a probe billions of miles away

[@james112680]

It's the opposite of crazy. It's actually very reasoned. It's the ultimate version of "Hey! Im not crazy! You're crazy!" because They have the situation under so much control that they figured it out. The people who came up with that probably weren't alive when it launched.

[@kaister901]

Yet, I can't solve my problems right in front of me. Life is sure ironic.

[@spvillano]

@@james112680 I can just imagine the team's cortisol levels ramping up as they waited for the update to be received, applied and confirmed. That's nearly two entire days of breath holding, hoping the data was correctly received, processed and didn't massively break anything! Makes guys about to turn blue waiting for Armstrong to land seem positively pedestrian!

[@willowPAPA]

As a com science student, I'm fascinated by how they achieved this

[@iibrahimovich]

spent 5 months non stop at laptops debugging code with a team of 10 scientists working at nasa without rest

[@spvillano]

@@iibrahimovich then, code review, testing, certification testing... Yeah, Microsoft Windows updates these ain't! As I recall, NASA was the singular user of NT4's service pack 7. Specially commissioned by and for NASA to update their legacy systems as they migrated slowly to more modern OS systems. Knew one of NASA's IA guys... For being a whole lot of nothing, space is really, really hard. ;)

[@asifkhan506]

Loved how you explained it! I just subscribed!!!

[@richardf6932]

Finding people that can still understand the hardware and software of legacy technology is amazing.

[@seankennedy1377]

Amazing!!! The Best news I've heard in a long time! That's no tiny probe. It holds one of the two "Golden Records." PLEASE do a detailed video on the Voyager Missions.

[@nimishnewatia]

I really love watching your positive and optimistic science videos and facts. It brings a lot of hope for humanity and its future.

[@donavancalderon8383]

When curiosity died all of NASA cried

[@rowanwoolsey3184]

It's so freaking rad that humans can do that.

[@Ms.Dee_p31]

I loved that we saw a picture even if it was for a couple of seconds. It puts faces, a bunch of faces to just how many great minds had to work on it to get it fixed. It shows how complex the problem was and just how much we take for granted how quickly technology works for us as if it's always been like this.

[@bhavyagoel4222]

The amount of information actually messes with my brain , it's pretty impressive how they do this , huge respect!

[@yana_agun]

That must be the farther OTA update ever made.

[@soacespacestation8556]

More like OTV (Over The Vacuum)

[@iRossco]

Voyager 2: Hey what about me?

[@tylisirn]

Not nearly as far away (136 AU vs 163 AU) because instead of being flung out by Saturn, it was directed onto a much more tangential trajectory towards Uranus and Neptune resulting in slower escape velocity.

[@nemesis8111]

High five to the scientists.

[@My10centsWorth]

I wish I could understand how 1s and 0s can be sent even to a close -by satellite. Science is amazing.

[@lemonberries]

The little probe that could

[@toadlguy]

This really is Optimistic Tech 😊

[@Leosworld1993]

I’m glad I discovered your channel!! Loving it!! It’s nuts to think that Voyager is that far away!!!!!

[@jengod4185]

46 years old, wow, it must be 8 bit and have the tiniest storage

[@Evercreeper]

Correct ish

[@TonyTylerDraws]

There are 6 computers all together, some 16 bit and some 18 bit, but total there is about 64KB of memory, or like a thumbnail image’s amount memory

[@jengod4185]

It's pretty wild to imagine that out there doing such an amazing thing.

[@vast634]

Im mostly amazed how reprogrammable those computers are. And why they did not simply use a fixed ROM for most operational code, and just reprogrammable RAM for the science data to process and send.

[@ggmaag]

Just insane insane insane how brilliant these engineers are.

[@cgirl111]

46 years of travelling at crazy fast speed and it isn't even a light day away.

[@andieluke1366]

The animation of the code messages thooo 😂😂😂

[@Poscarable]

I thought it was dumb the "optimistic" part but the more I watch your videos, the more I appreciate it. Most news are negative and I end up somehow stressed but I still want to know about the world that surrounds me (I don't watch the news anymore). Thanks for your perspective, it's refreshing.

[@l.c.7955]

"Optimistic science stories" This channel really does live up to its outro ♥️👏

[@dlibby4979]

I get sad when I think of the probe going on, never to be seen again by humans, forever

[@HiddenPalm]

Forever? Hardly. We'll be traveling to supernovas to gather ultra-dense matter that fragmented from the cores of former neutron stars on the outer edges of magnetar storms to convert to energy and water in the coming centuries.

[@gwernette5971]

Ever notice how NASA is full of all of these amazing recoveries that really don't stand a snowball's chance in hell?

[@cid2087]

You probably notice that most of the people works fixing the computer and the code are old poeple, because voyager 1 and even voyager 2 run on assembly language and FORTRAN. Which both of the computer language doesn't exist in our usual college class

[@RuthBhmand]

And they’re probably some of the original members of nasa voyager engineering team. Of course that means some of them are close to or past retirement.😃such champions

[@timothy098-b4f]

@@RuthBhmandSome of them have already retired and are working on the Voyager team as volunteers. It’s a dedicated team of explorers.

[@iRossco]

I learnt & programmed in Fortran at Uni in the early '80's, in Engineering, easy enough just syntax like any language I suppose. Doubt it would be anything that sophisticated just Assembly Language which is a handful of commands. Now it must feel like programming a slide rule, which I've also used thanks to a nasty Chemistry teacher in late 70's that wouldn't allow calculators in class if you can believe it!

[@iRossco]

​@@RuthBhmand"crew" 😳

[@RuthBhmand]

@@iRossco what is the correct term for the people working as a team on a nasa project?

[@sir_xrp3910]

Voyager probes are one of the greatest human achievements, and travel adventures. Go voyager

[@AdrianColley]

That's amazing. I really thought it was gone for sure this time.

[@seccat]

At 46yrs old, anyone that worked on the project would have retired.

[@ThisHandleIsTakenTryThis]

they are still hiring new people to work on the probe. du dur

[@famlrnamemssng]

Well no shit they hired new ones

[@sterngerlach9184]

Uh, no. Old SW engineers don't retire, they just code away.

[@mehill00]

There are still some originals (pre-launch) on the team and lots of newer folks (like me “only” been on Voyager since ‘96, and of course even newer members). And some folks who are retired chip in when things are serious.

[@Breadts1cks]

My favorite thing is the tenacity with the engineers working it today. Most of the engineers who made voyager one are retired, many dead, but we carry on the torch to keep voyager alive

[@Blahblahblahworlds]

If this was an Apple built probe, you know Apple would be like: we not longer support this hardware. You're on your own. Lols.

[@shleaumeau7740]

"Did you purchase AppleCare?"

[@milktea2422]

Surprised we haven’t sent another probe in another direction with even better technology now.

[@Marty13B]

James Webb telescope

[@duh_googleit]

@@Marty13B nope, not what many people mean when they say probe. They mean horizons or Parker solar probe, not Spitzer or chandra

[@ankitmasih6219]

It's all happening as we think and technology is being constantly devloped so it's just a matter of time and people

[@joachimfrank4134]

A rare planet constellation had been upcoming when Voyager was built. This was used to fling Voyager out by using gravity assist maneuvers when passing Jupiter and Saturn. Such a condtellation only happens all 100 or even 200 years, I don't know when the next chance would be. The scientists knew, they had a unique opportunity.

[@bokiNYC]

​@joachimfrank4134 That's true but wouldn't it be possible to send a probe similar to Parker Solar probe to accelerate using gravity assist of the Sun and Mercury for a few orbits (PSP will reach over 192 km/s at it's max speed which is way faster than Voyager) and then at it's max speed to fling it out and away from Sun? That way there is no need to further gravity assists after that (or maybe one more after that just to speed it up a bit) - wouldn't that be doable?

[@robi6317]

ONLY 22 HRS is nuts

[@radio9632]

"Ay yo fix the code" what da frick 😂

[@f1ll3rn]

Popularism over factual data whst did you think

[@Katherinanya]

ALMOST A DAY LIGHT DISTANCE AWAY FROM US !! INCREDIBLE

[@lightingnabottle6065]

I was a kid when I had the pleasure watching Voyage 1 and 2 being launched .....46 years later, Im still in awe of these two, "The Dynamic Duo" To the teams who launched and continue to work with these incredible crafts, congratulations....❤❤❤👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🙏🙏🙏🍾🥳🥳🥳💐💐💐🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸