Topic: Voyager 1

[Nemesis]

Voyager 1 is back in operation.  The Energizer bunny has nothing on Voyager.

[Centurus]

Voyager 1 is back in operation.  The Energizer bunny has nothing on Voyager.

They just don't make them like they used to!

[Panzergranate]

Do you think that Voyager 1 would still be running if it had been made in China?? 

[Nemesis]

Do you think that Voyager 1 would still be running if it had been made in China?? 

With the technology they had in 1977?  Of course not.  It wouldn't have made it to orbit let alone where it is. 

[Tulwar]

Panzergranate was referring to the Chinese lack of concern about customer satisfaction and their penchant for corruption, leading to "tofu dregs construction."  We still experience poorly manufactured crap in our stores.  We know they do some things right, like the 3 Gorges Dam.  If it were made like an ordinary infrastructure project, it would have killed millions of people, by now.  As it is product of hubris, to begin with, the dam is damned to collapse, before its time.

[knightstorm]

How far could it go if we could have built it with today's tech?  Could we have made it smaller and potentially faster, or could we have used the reduced weight to give it more plutonium.  Its  estimated that after 2035 there won't be enough power to run any of the instruments.

[Panzergranate]

If I remember right, it's running on Motorola 8 bit 6800 CPUs, which were the cutting edge of CPU technology, back then. Other options were the Intel 8080 and Signetics 2650, both of which are a tad lame, by comparison. The 2650 is rumoured to use female logic (my first computer (in 1977) used a 2650 CPU).

[Javora]

How far could it go if we could have built it with today's tech?  Could we have made it smaller and potentially faster, or could we have used the reduced weight to give it more plutonium.  Its  estimated that after 2035 there won't be enough power to run any of the instruments.

With the data that both Voyager spacecraft are sending us, you’d think that we would send an updated Voyager III out there.  I think the probes are just scratching the surface of what’s going on in interstellar space…

[Nemesis]

Hugely expensive.  Perhaps it will get cheaper if Starship works out and a probe can be refueled in orbit rather than having to be launched all in one shot as has historically been the case.  Not to mention the vastly improved electronics, materials and in space propulsion systems.