These RTGs are an issue for future probes due to nobody making the
Pu-238 available... Besides the change in position of launching those
kind of risks.. I believe a russian one came down in Canada and
created quite the mess...
On 8/31/22 10:31 AM, Chuck McCown via AF wrote:
oyager 1 has three*radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs)
mounted on a boom*. Each MHW-RTG contains 24 pressed plutonium-238
oxide spheres. The RTGs generated about 470 W of electric power at the
time of launch, with the remainder being dissipated as waste heat.
87.7 year half life.
*From:* Daniel Pautz via AF
*Sent:* Wednesday, August 31, 2022 11:23 AM
*To:* 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group'
*Cc:* Daniel Pautz
*Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] OT Voyager
Though these two guys didn’t have solar panels, good old baby nuke on
board.
*From:* AF <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Chuck McCown via AF
*Sent:* Wednesday, August 31, 2022 11:13 AM
*To:* [email protected]; 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group'
<[email protected]>
*Cc:* Chuck McCown <[email protected]>
*Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] OT Voyager
I was taught, many years ago, that minority (might have been majority)
charge carrier migration in semiconductors would render them useless
in 20 years. Also solar panels are supposed to wear out in 20 years.
And cosmic rays kill all semiconductors. etc etc Danged good
modulation they are using whatever it is. I think it was some kind of
pseudo random noise code but I may be wrong about that. A professor
in an analog class told me that almost 40 years ago.
*From:*[email protected]
*Sent:*Wednesday, August 31, 2022 11:08 AM
*To:*'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group'
*Cc:*'Chuck McCown'
*Subject:*RE: [AFMUG] OT Voyager
I’d bet a smaller codebase helps. No gigabytes of libraries to debug.
But yeah, if something I built lasted 45 years in outer space I’d pat
myself on the back a bit.
*From:*AF <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Chuck McCown via AF
*Sent:* Wednesday, August 31, 2022 11:50 AM
*To:* [email protected]
*Cc:* Chuck McCown <[email protected]>
*Subject:* [AFMUG] OT Voyager
This space vehicle launched 45 years ago started sending garbage
telemetry. The folks running that show figured it was routing the
data through a known defective computer.
So they commanded it to switch to the good computer and they got good
telemetry.
Talk about latency... 16 hours.
So 45 (more likely 55) year old hardware running an OS that old is
still essentially rocks solid. So are the transmitters and receivers
and other RF components allowing communication clear out into deep space.
Damn, those engineers and coders must be proud of the job they did.
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