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Voyager 1 Once Again Returning Science Data From All Four Instruments (hackaday.com)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 85 points 4 months ago (37 children)

What they did was close to wizardry.

With no way to fix the chip, the team instead split the code up so it could be stored elsewhere. Initially they focused on reacquiring the engineering data, sending an update to Voyager 1 on 18 April 2024.

It takes 22.5 hours for a radio signal to travel the 24 billion kilometres (15 billion miles) out to Voyager 1, and the same back, meaning the spacecraft’s operations team didn’t receive a message back until 20 April.

But when it arrived, they had usable data from Voyager 1 for the first time in five months.

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-missions/how-fixed-voyager-1

[–] [email protected] 20 points 4 months ago (36 children)

Here's a fun fact that I think of every time I read about light delay.

We assume the speed of light is the same in all directions but there's no way to prove that it is.

It could be light speed is instantaneous in one direction, and half the speed we think it is in the reverse. Any test we could devise depends on information traveling in two directions, nullifying any discrepancies in light speed.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Couldn't we send out two devices in different directions, wait a decade, have them shine light at eachother simultaneously, record when they receive the light, then send the times back to earth?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Your question is good. You're missing understanding of time dilation and frame of reference. An explanation of the theory of relativity is at least pages long.

The first book I ever read on the subject, and IMO the best introductory text for any non-physiscist, is Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time". But, any introduction to relativity should answer your question.

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