Voyager Status, What is it? Options

[tuvas]

Anyone know the latest Voyager status? I've hear rumors, but I'm wondering if anyone has anything more concrete (I won't share the rumors, as I really don't know much about it, so...)

[mcaplinger]

Nice post, but I feel compelled to nit-pick a little, sorry.

This is a problem NASA long since solved. These days, every space probe that launches, leaves a perfect duplicate back on Earth. Remember in “The Martian”, how they had another copy of Pathfinder sitting under a tarp in a warehouse? That’s accurate. It’s been standard practice for 30 years. But back in 1977, nobody had thought of that yet.

They had all of that for Voyager, they just don't have it today, probably because the hardware died and couldn't be repaired. Missions I've worked on (MGS for example) have been severely challenged late in the mission to keep those resources going. The situation has been improving, but I wouldn't call it "solved". And it is rarely if ever a "perfect duplicate" -- on MGS our MOC ground hardware was a bare circuit board mounted to a big sheet of plywood. The spacecraft simulator is usually what's called a "flatsat" -- a collection of boards on tables or in racks, hardly a complete spacecraft.

And good luck finding any of that Pathfinder hardware even today, much less in the near future of "The Martian". All of that stuff was likely scrapped shortly after the mission ended.

[Doug M.]

Nice post, but I feel compelled to nit-pick a little, sorry.

I would have expected nothing less!

They had all of that for Voyager, they just don't have it today, probably because the hardware died and couldn't be repaired. Missions I've worked on (MGS for example) have been severely challenged late in the mission to keep those resources going. The situation has been improving, but I wouldn't call it "solved". And it is rarely if ever a "perfect duplicate" -- on MGS our MOC ground hardware was a bare circuit board mounted to a big sheet of plywood. The spacecraft simulator is usually what's called a "flatsat" -- a collection of boards on tables or in racks, hardly a complete spacecraft.

Really! TIL.

And as for Voyager... they just tossed it? I mean, Voyager's not that big, and storage is cheap... But on the other hand, 46 years is a very long time, I guess.

[mcaplinger]

And as for Voyager... they just tossed it? I mean, Voyager's not that big, and storage is cheap...

Storage is not as plentiful as you might think on the JPL campus. It could easily be in some off-site storage where no one can find it (think the last scene of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK) and probably non-functional if it could be found.

From https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/1988006...5_Optimized.pdf

The original software development for the data computer has essentially been a two-man show since 1975, beginning when Edgar
M. Blizzard joined Richard Rice to develop the flight version of the code. Others have been involved in testing and management, but these two JPL engineers have been the key programmers for the entire mission to date. They sit in the same area as the "Laboratory Test Set," an
Interdata computer and peripherals that contain the software simulator of the data computer and the assembler and flight load generator. Across from them is the CDL, the loose conglomeration of hardware that represents the real spacecraft.

You want to bet on the chances of an Interdata computer from 1975 still being in working order? I did find emulator support for the Interdata and data files for the Interdata operating system, but finding and reading the unique Voyager software on old tapes if they still exist might be a challenge. Even if anyone knows how those tools work any more.

It is a little surprising that they didn't plan ahead for this a bit better, but it's understandable.

[HSchirmer]

You want to bet on the chances of an Interdata computer from 1975 still being in working order?
... finding and reading the unique Voyager software on old tapes if they still exist might be a challenge. Even if anyone knows how those tools work any more.

<GRIN>Yikes, that brings back memories of my father bringing home giant spools from an IBM 360 to work on over the weekend, and me as a little kid looking up references for him in a 4-inch thick IBM binder.
"Mom, is COBOL a curse word?" "Sometimes dear, sometimes when your father uses it..."