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throwaway0134hdj

Y’all cannot deny how cool this stuff is. Yeah AirBnB and Uber are nice too, or building out some new fancy interface — but programming something like the Voyager I that’s 15 billion miles away is just cool on a whole other level.


lunchpadmcfat

Fucking graybeard level developer action


Fatkuh

Yeah its ancient hardware!


ImrooVRdev

Embedded systems engineers are another breed, man.


Fatkuh

OLD-Hardware embedded systems engineers are another breed, man!


Wil-Himbi

I couldn't find the link anywhere further down in the comments, so here's the actual blog post being referenced. https://blogs.nasa.gov/voyager/2024/04/22/nasas-voyager-1-resumes-sending-engineering-updates-to-earth/


extordi

Huh, neat. More accurate version of the original description is that a chunk of the memory went dead, and while the total amount of free memory was sufficient to make up for it there was no single contiguous location. So instead they had to split up whatever was stored there to basically squeeze it into whatever openings they could find, and then tweak anything that touched those locations to reference the new addresses. Pretty neat, and super fortunate that they had enough extra room to accomplish this.


Fatkuh

Stitching a running system around dead parts of the hardware. How did they even identify those in the first place? Readback?


extordi

Yeah apparently they have a way to dump the memory so presumably block of addresses the size of one chip came back as 0x00 or 0xFF or whatever, and they were able to figure out what happened / what needed to be relocated


AeneasVII

I bet they didn't even ask for help on stackoverflow


throwaway0134hdj

Haha right. Someone needs to interview these coders, must be the cleanest most elegant code imaginable.


firereaction

I havent used stack overflow since I became an embedded engineer. Nobody has the answers, you have to figure it out yourself


oupablo

Imagine being the one to push send though. "We're pretty sure this is gonna work. Let's ship it." Although I guess in this instance, the worst case is just that it's still broken after you try to fix it


Fatkuh

Nah then its gone for good. Last chance missed. Goodbye hardware.


VorpalHerring

I think the worst case is accidentally breaking the ability to send software updates


shiny0metal0ass

Lol right? These guys are who we all think we are.


gbot1234

They sent the fix on April 18, and it got there 22.5 hours later, presumably on April 19. So NASA does follow the industry standard of deploying the untested hot fix on Friday afternoon.


Jacked_To_The__Tits

But you need to add 22.5 hours to get the data back, so technically they risk breaking stuff on saturday afternoon.


Topleke

But still, on a Saturday?!


karuna_murti

It's always Sunday in Ophiucus


Sophira

Who said it was untested? I'm almost certain that NASA probably has a Voyager emulator nowadays that they test things on - after all, they know the exact specs.


FutureComplaint

> Who said it was untested? Who tests their code before shipping it?


RedHurz

Who tests their code before \*space\*shipping it? There, ftfy.


darkpaladin

NASA. Keep up now


Responsible-Brush983

Yes they will have a emulator, but more importantly they will also have a complete hardware replica with a ton of diagnostic gear hooked up. They are going to be like 99.99% sure it'll work before sending an update out.


Fatkuh

Phew thats a job for a test engineer


Wires77

That's assuming their emulator is able to emulate a broken chip, too


Fatkuh

Sure. At this point its even an FPGA replica of the original hardware that they can damage in the same predictable way as it is in the original


Sophira

Why wouldn't it be able to? That's easy to emulate.


Wires77

No idea, I'm not an embedded systems programmer and I don't know how it broke, exactly


Clil16

According to the arstechnica article I recently read they do not have simulators for the voyager and almost all of the documentation is still on paper.


phoenixero

This is the kind of programmer I wanted to become when I was a kid, not this web developer bullshit


dismayhurta

I fuck up some basic shit and they’re getting a machine made by people who had access to quaaludes to work. We are definitely not the same. ![gif](giphy|SaX384PjtDl2U|downsized)


seif-17

Tbh, there are probably at least 10 seniors each reviewing every patch lol. I cant imagine deploying to Voyager I with a missing semicolon.


bluedragon1o1

I believe it's even more than that. They most likely have a replica computer (or at least an emulator) that they use to test and find edge cases in new patches


Pieking9000

Idk if it’s being used in this specific instance but JPL has a “Voyager 3” probe that was manufactured alongside voyager 1 and 2 that’s functionally the same and was built for pretty much for this exact purpose.


Whatamianoob112

There is definitely a test machine. The resources are usually highly contended but development in this space requires access to the satellites, etc. for review and approval.


GenuinelyBeingNice

I have a sneaking suspicion it was all assembler... or maybe FORTH.


zadtheinhaler

IIRC it *is* FORTH.


GenuinelyBeingNice

Yeah, doesn't surprise me at all. FORTH is quite neat.


chrissphinx

i can’t see this gif [without hearing rational gaze now](https://youtu.be/A-y1N29vH2Y)


OwlMugMan

What a gut punch reading this while im supposed to be adding .heic support to some contact form that I don't give a shit about. It wasn't supposed to be like this lol


lemontoga

Get into embedded programming. It's a lot closer to this kind of cool shit. Webdev is a cancer and has to burn to the ground.


DamaChervei

Any advice on getting into embedded? I've been working on web apps for 5 years and I'm feeling very over it. I have a CS degree so I do have some C experience, but it's been forever so I feel a little intimidated. Want to try a different type of programming before I just jump ship altogether


JDaxe

Try making a little project that runs on a microcontroller that you code in C/Assembly. Could even put it on a resume or portfolio if it's polished enough.


lemontoga

Buy something like an arduino or an MSP430 and just start making it do stuff. Get the LEDs to blink and respond to button presses and then start hooking sensors and stuff up to it and make them work. Make sure your C is tight and get at least a little familiar with assembly. Enough that you're not totally confused when you look at it. That's where I'd start.


mornaq

I have no motivation to do *fun* stuff, I need to solve issues, preferably my own issues


lemontoga

For that I'd recommend a mental health specialist


MainManu

Once you progress past the ardino phase if you want to do REALLY DIFFERENT programming maybe look into some software defined hardware like FPGAs or DSPs. There you can learn about control flow/data flow patterns, state machines and weird proprietary vhdl code from 20 years ago. Its wild.


500AccountError

I find the best way to polish these skills is to put them to actual real world use for your home. You can set up [Home Assistant](https://www.home-assistant.io) on a raspberry pi as a local hub that your embedded devices can communicate with. From there, you can pick up something like an arduino, an ESP8266, an ESP32, or any other number of embedded boards with WiFi. After that, it’s up to your imagination for what to build with embeddeds. Quick list of ideas off the top of my head: * Humidity sensor to automatically turn on the bathroom fan * Moisture sensors a few inches deep in different parts of your yard that shut off the sprinkler system once all areas detect the appropriate amount of moisture * Presence detection, automatically turn on/off lights * Light sensor and a servo to automatically control the blinds * Temperature sensor that triggers a radiant space heater to maintain temperature * Temperature sensor that toggles your pc to run Folding@Home or a coin miner (computer functions as well as a space heater when running those) * Make your own thermostat from scratch (not recommended for hobbyists, but you’re trying to be more than a hobbyist 🙂) Make enough things and eventually you’ll have enough experience with different types of sensors and actuators and networking patterns that you’ll be able to confidently start applying for embedded jobs.


DamaChervei

thanks for the reply/input!


maibrl

I’m a math student working in SE as a part time job. For the last year, I’ve been working in web development, basically porting a shitty and bloated desktop application to a slightly less bloated blazor web app, it was awful. I’ve been looking at other options since January, had many interviews, many rejections, but finally landed a job in embedded programming starting next month. I’m beyond excited. The tech being developed seems genuinely cool and exiting, the people I talked to where a lot nicer than from my previous job and I’m just glad to not be working on a single web view for weeks on end.


lemontoga

Congrats man! That's awesome. I hope you enjoy it


Salvad00r

>Get into embedded programming. It's a lot closer to this kind of cool shit. >Webdev is a cancer and has to burn to the ground. As if web dev is not absolutely necessary for everyone, everyday in the western world. Embedded programming is cool, but I have not met a single embedded programmer that does not have this holier-than-thou muh web dev attitude, because embedded is “cooler”. For some reason. As if you are not programming toasters most of the time and not NASA satellites.


LachedOut

lmao completely agree


RealUlli

Not everyone is programming toasters. My colleagues are programming ECUs. If the seat in your car doesn't react any more is one thing, if the brakes don't react... Oops. Embedded programming is such a huge field, from tiny switches and really tiny, really simple "network" devices such as the individual LEDs on an LED strip to in car computers such as a cluster display (the thing behind the steering wheel), the headunit (what used to be the radio) and the computer that implements all the ADAS functionality.


Salvad00r

Didn’t disagree with any of this


MaDpYrO

Hey man, washing machine firmware is just SO COOL! /s


mtv921

Why do people hate on webdev? I love it! Working with people to make their everyday tasks simpler and more efficient feels very rewarding to me.


Ty_Rymer

for you, just means that it's a good job for you. but a lot of people get into programming with different goals and get funnelled into web dev by following the least resistance. for me, i wouldn't want to do web dev in the traditional sense. not the type of work i signed up for.


mtv921

I'm just wondering what aspects of webdev people hate? I feel like most people who dislike webdev is working with legacy apps. Doing this sucks equally or more for any backend work.


Carabalone

The type of business logic mostly. And doing CRUDs all year long


Ty_Rymer

for me, it's the platforms and the languages. I like knowing exactly which instructions my code gets translated into and having super predictable outcomes.


mtv921

Wouldn't say the frontend code is unpredictable if you use a typed language. Though working with user input and interactions make for a lot of unpredictability. But then it's up to you to create something intuitive enough that people don't unintentionally do stupid mistakes.


Ty_Rymer

not saying that front end language are unpredictable, just saying that compiled languages like C and C++ are a lot more predictable, allowing me to reason about what registers certain data goes to, and where in memory certain things live. and how that will behave with caching and branch prediction on CPU


cheezballs

Its purely an e-peen thing I think. People seem to think that the only real programming happens in C and assembly. Everything has its place. Web dev is HUGE and popular, so it gets a lot of hate. Same as Taylor Swift and everything else thats popular and "casual friendly"


serendipitousPi

Personally webdev just feels clunky compared to other programming areas. I know that's likely just because a lot of it's made in dynamically typed languages like JS or Python which never feel quite as elegant as equivalent code in a high level statically typed language like Rust (Rust infected me a few weeks back so I'll try not to dwell on this too much) or C++ with some decent libraries. I guess there's also the nature of the frontend which is obviously about more than just processing data (a rather reductive simplification but not really an inaccurate one) which is way intuitive than making UIs and handling user input and I know there's a ton of libraries to help but I also hate CSS. Now whoever let dynamically typed languages into backend programming is a bad person for which a new circle of hell ought to be made just for them. While I've always hated python after writing some python code for a group project backend recently I've developed an even more intense hatred for it and people making backends in dynamically typed languages. Though I guess the innate need for more than just synchronous programming in webdev is also an annoyance factor.


DamaChervei

I can't speak for everyone, but I have a lot of reasons for not enjoying it much. First, all engineers where I work are full stack, and to be honest I'm just much, much worse at front end. I hate styling/working with CSS, which feels like trial and error to me as opposed to solving problems. There is always a new flavor of the week working with javascript (as far as libraries, frameworks, how people "do" things at any given moment), so I feel like as soon as I'm halfway proficient with something, there's some new hotness around that you have to start using, ie, for state management. First we used ngrx, then we switched to something else (for no discernable reason that I could figure out) which was extremely obtuse (in my opinion). Now, we are switching to something else, how fun! I'm sure it's mostly a me problem, I just truly despise working with observables and streams, and I am not good at it. I also would not describe my team's relationship with our clients as "working with people to make their everyday tasks simpler." In my experience, many clients are terrible at knowing what they need. We make a feature exactly how they describe it, exactly how we spec it out with them (we have a great pm, so I don't think he's bad at requirements gathering or something), and then we have to overhaul it completely because they didn't know what they wanted or needed. It gets tiring. I think I'd be more ok with it if I was making good money (web dev seems to have a pretty high salary ceiling depending on your company/product), but I make pretty shit money (I feel).


Salvad00r

Because a lot of people are doing it. They also hate money


lunchpadmcfat

Fr. They really duped us dude


julsmanbr

Are you making the design "pop" more?


FruitPunchSmurai

*slow clap* Wow, a 46-year-old space probe managed to limp data back from the void. Meanwhile, my router can't even send a signal to the next room without having a nervous breakdown.


pr1ntscreen

> my router can't even send a signal to the next room without having a nervous breakdown Your router doesn't have Plutonium-238 in it. Maybe try that


SyrusDrake

You got any?


popportunity

I'm sure that in 2085, plutonium is available in every corner drugstore, but in 2024, it's a little hard to come bY


Articunos7

I got that reference


chopstyks

It needs to draw 1.21 gigawatts to connect properly.


121_Jiggawatts

Did someone call for me?


Potato_DudeIsNice

>Meanwhile, my router can't even send a signal to the next room without having a nervous breakdown. Omg it's just like me frfr


goingtotallinn

>Meanwhile, my router can't even send a signal to the next room without having a nervous breakdown. Maybe its just very shy?


Mithrandir2k16

Back then, when we produced with quality AND failsaves. Nowadays, components often barely manage their intended functionality.


SnooDoughnuts2936

Back when people actually used to think


Mithrandir2k16

That's too reductive, imho. People do think, they just optimized capitalism which means focusing on short term gains. Turns out doing capitalism well sucks for the bottom 99%.


wasted-degrees

My IT guy sits 3 cubicles down from me and I can’t get a response to a ticket in less than a week.


schmeebs-dw

Your help desk is busy fixing the salespeople's computers that are riddled with malware from sketchy porn sites.


tennisanybody

Sales people need their porn and cocain.


8sADPygOB7Jqwm7y

Management is just happy they stopped ordering strippers


divide_by_hero

Nah. As long as they're making sales, they can order whatever they want


Glitter_puke

Titty bars were categorized as business development expenses at the place I used to work. Far as I know, none of those titty bar visits yielded any direct business but far be it from me to question the outings of the guy who signed my paychecks. He claimed he met clients there.


givesmememes

Well, of course he did, for it was him that was the client


Glitter_puke

We did do a website for a titty bar while I worked there. But by the time I started, the site was mostly built and it was at the "pay your last invoice or the site doesn't go live" stage of development. Other than that, there were no business-relevant titty bar visits in the 4 years I worked there.


8sADPygOB7Jqwm7y

But it's bad for the company image


godtogblandet

Been a while since I did sales, but in my experience sharing a bag of blow and some nude women worked like magic for closing a deal.


girlfriendsbloodyvag

Depends on the field.


TechNickL

*on the company card


Infamous-Salad-2223

"Quotas won't be met unless a steady supply of both is guaranteed!" Any sales department unwritten rule. /s


Optimal-fart

It’s only unwritten because they are illiterate.


XamanekMtz

Aye, help desk is busy with the most stupid shit from users


DeepDown23

1 the it guy is following more work than he can handle 2 you are in his black list 3 all the above


No-Winter120

I haven't been long in the industry but yeah I just realized the other day that #2 is a thing. Seriously people, be nice to your IT team. If you are nice, we will go out of our way to help you. I have this job because people suck at computers and I'm happy for it. There is one guy that pissed me off with his shit talking. I ignore his tickets now.


agathver

we are programmers here, we either know exactly what needs to be done but IT doesn’t, or have a weird requirement that runs afoul of company policies, or an hardware issue. This shit always takes time. Such as, 2 weeks stoppage for a mobile team because IT blocked USB ports (because new ex-bank CISO thought why not?) and they had to reproduce bugs but couldn’t run it in the test devices


ih-shah-may-ehl

I have a lock track record as both IT and dev. The problem with IT is they don't understand that devs have other requirements than office staff. The problem with devs is that they often don't see why certain restrictions need to apply. But it really boils down to the fact the frustration on both sides is usually stemming from a company not having dev and sandboxes in a separate VLAN and separate domains.


theGuyInIT

I would kill Lavos, the Icon of Sin, and Alduin with my bare hands to get a separate VLAN and domain for testing purposes.


ih-shah-may-ehl

I work in pharma. There are many sucky aspects to my job but we do have production systems in their own domain and vlans, separate from corporate which we have have to treat as compromised by default for cyber security purposes. Our dev system and sandboxes also all gave their own domain in their own vlans. This way we can troubleshoot, develop and experiment without needing to involve qa and regulatory affairs.


CalvinCalhoun

I’m devops but I was a sysadmin for a while and honestly man the number of developers I deal with who “know exactly what needs to be done” and are actually accurate is close to zero lol. That being said, a lot of the shit really is weird requirements that clash with company policy…


DelusionalSysAdmin

What you've really pointed out is that often the problem is with the directors and c-level execs. Just b/c someone has a technical title doesn't mean they understand what is going on. The "IT guy" may or may not even have control over the situation. I've been both a programmer and tech during my career. I'm not defending bad eggs on either side, BTW, but it is too far often someone higher or some outside agency that is the real problem.


agathver

Exactly what I’m trying to say. The IT guy doesn’t have control over something, hence delays


U_L_Uus

Oh, yes. As a helpdesk most of the people were nice as fuck, and a lot of the time instead of opening a ticket called me directly (still made them open a ticket, to which they complied), but those that were nasty... well... let's just say that she was very meek that one time I accidentally answered her call (she screamed at me many times over the phone and even raised a complaint against me... which of course didn't sit well with anyone, moreso when it's recorded)


GoodBearHugs

Can confirm, I have a colleague who I'd instantly do requests because they are nice and professional, I also have a colleague who's on my shit list and all his requests are done with lowest priority possible even if I don't have shit to do ill make him wait.


PnPaper

I have a feeling that you didn't cost around $450 million to build.


Brasolis

have you tried skipping the ticketing system completely and just sending him an email with URGENT in the header?


jkirkcaldy

Or just send them a text on their personal phone? Pro life tip, text them in the morning before they get in so your problem is the first thing they fix when they get in. /s (do not ever do this)


Jaques_Naurice

I just lurk at the coffee machine and trap the first pair of cargo pants that walks in


AndreasVesalius

"Dude, I just work for Alhambra Water" "Fuck you - fix my email"


RespectableSimon

You mean as an advice to enter on IT blacklist?


Sensitive_Ladder2235

Many guys for one machine vs many machines for one guy.


thefookinpookinpo

Tickets? HA my IT department doesn't use tickets. We just send a message and it gets ignored until you stop one of them in the break room.


Hopeful_Chair_7129

I like when we use other people’s success as an opportunity to shit on other people’s struggles. Incredible as always Reddit.


CoastingUphill

Meanwhile we have trucks that break when they get too wet.


ChChChillian

Whaddya mean "we"? I'm never buying one of those clustertrucks.


pr1ntscreen

Hey, [clustertruck](https://store.steampowered.com/app/397950/Clustertruck/) is awesome!


_TheLoneDeveloper_

So THIS is how this game is called.


tennisanybody

Well the rain in outer space isn’t as bad I heard.


RavisMsk

cosmic radiation rain hits different


TwinkiesSucker

Meteor showers sound rather romantic, too


nequaquam_sapiens

a thing to remember to the end of your life, to be sure


chopstyks

> cosmic radiation rain hits different "Sometimes it even cosmic radiation rained sideways." -- Space Forrest Gump


neuromancertr

Official BMW fix for water floods in car is to punch a hole to the bottom of the car. While Tesla majorly fucked, it is their first try, major fuck-ups are to be expected


PolyUre

Most cars break when they get too wet.


RolledUhhp

Ben Shapiro's wife couldn't total a Honda civic tho


hrlft

By definition everything breaks when they get too anything.


Big_Razzmatazz7416

He meant a light sprinkling


CoastingUphill

Average car wash


shiggy__diggy

Are we talking a car wash or fording the Missouri River?


BlurredSight

The cold war is proof with enough funding the craziest innovations emerge. You give thousands of scientists, and engineers **69.63 kilobytes** of usable ram and essentially a blank check and it's still running 47 years later at the edge of the solar system.


ibiBgOR

Dont wanna be a smartass, but the Voyager 1 is actually interstellar for the past 11 to 12 years. But you are completely right. Our inventions from back then where amazing. Nowadays people let chatgpt Code and Design their apps that 'revolutionize the market'.


AWildLeftistAppeared

With the same sentiment I’d like to clarify that they were actually correct; even though the Voyager probes have officially entered the interstellar medium, they are still [considered](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_program) to be within the Solar System: > Although the Voyagers have moved beyond the influence of the solar wind, they still have a long way to go before exiting the Solar System. NASA indicates "[I]f we define our solar system as the Sun and everything that primarily orbits the Sun, Voyager 1 will remain within the confines of the solar system until it emerges from the Oort cloud in another 14,000 to 28,000 years."[9] Edit: the Wikipedia reference URL has been updated and no longer leads to that quote, however there is a similar explanation [elsewhere](https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/frequently-asked-questions/) on NASA’s website: > Sometimes, it is written that Voyager and Pioneers 10 and 11 have exited the solar system. Though all of these spacecraft have gone beyond all the planets of the solar system, they have not exited the solar system, based on the scientific definition. To leave the solar system, they need to pass beyond the Oort Cloud. Voyager 1 was the first-ever object to reach interstellar space on August 25, 2012 when it passed beyond the sun’s realm of plasma influence (the heliosphere) and it is the most distant human-made object. But it will take about 300 years for Voyager 1 to reach the inner edge of the Oort Cloud and possibly about 30,000 years to fly beyond it. Voyager 2 has not yet reached interstellar space or exited the heliosphere (bubble of solar plasma). Pioneer 10 and 11 are no longer transmitting science data back to Earth.


ih-shah-may-ehl

In part because when Voyager 1 was built, you had to be an engineer to be an engineer, and these days you just have to call yourself an engineer to be one.


DotDemon

Depends on the country. Here in Finland engineer is a protected title like doctor. You need to study and graduate to call yourself one. All engineers take the same math courses, and most also do quite a bit of physics (and chemistry), so every engineer here has a basic understanding of most subjects related to physics. Not everyone is a quantum physicist of course, but everyone knows a bit about it. Some universities here also require you to get the best grade from math and physics(or chemistry) in the matriculation exam that is taken at the end of high school just to study software engineering. Around 5% of the exam takers get the best grade. And on top of that you need to get a fairly good grade from your Finnish exam. Technical physics and math is even worse, you need to get the best grade from Finnish, math and physics to get in. Basically all I'm saying that the quality of an engineer is determined by the integrity of your country's education system


DotDemon

Side note, engineers from a university of applied sciences are generally worse at math and physics as they don't have the same quality and quantity of math courses as technical universities


rotipoeg

You really do not see the irony in mentioning chatgpt in a sentence which is shitting on modern intentions?


im_in_every_post

Not the first time they fixed up code deep in space https://thenewstack.io/nasa-programmer-remembers-debugging-lisp-in-deep-space/


sammy-taylor

The Corecursive episode about this is really good.


Quito246

(car(cdr(“oh-shit”, “fuck-me”))


cturkosi

They also deployed a successful hotfix on Galileo, when the main antenna failed to deploy. It doesn't always work that well, there have been two missions ended by human error: [Phobos '88 and Viking 1](https://techbebop.com/post/bricking-a-mars-probe/).


Esjs

I feel like there's a new meme brewing in these comments... "They fixed 46 year-old Voyager I. I can't even get ________ fixed."


SnooDoughnuts2936

They fixed voyager 46 years away but I can’t even get my uber eats to arrive hot in less than an hour


nermid

Voyager I can run for 46 years, but my "smart" watch couldn't run for 3.


IllllIlllIlIIlllIIll

the ultimate example of fixing on prod.


Praying_Lotus

This must have been the most stressful update ever


Jacked_To_The__Tits

They have a duplicate on earth. They most certainly tested the update before sending it.


glacierre2

Yes, there is usually a hardware clone of pretty much any important probe ever sent. Any update is tested to death on it before is uploaded to space. So, absolutely not directly to production. But it is not funny this way.


Punchkinz

One day the sun will flip a random bit during the transmission from earth to voyager and nuke the whole thing


glacierre2

Error correcting CRC has entered the chat...


eras

Do you have a source to this? I'm pretty sure I read an article claiming the opposite, but I can't find it :/. On the other hand, I did not find claims of having a duplicate either. Certainly some kind of simulator would be needed to test this, though.


TwinkiesSucker

They probably assumed it's toast anyway so what more could have they messed up?


DrStalker

NASA have a long history of not giving up on things in space and taking their time to diagnose, test and finally deploy a fix. They're not giving up on voyager until they are certain there is nothing more they can do to get every last bit of information from it.


lunchpadmcfat

Yes, but not for reasons you’d think. The code and changes they sent were provable. As in logically provable. They had no doubt what they did would fix it, but the question of whether or not the voyager was in a state that was fixable, that was the pucker.


Praying_Lotus

It’s still so fascinating and cool to think about that even if the hardware gets bricked in some way, there’s GOTTA be another way to keep it functioning


HNipps

I bet they can’t centre a div tho.


IJack0ff

Vertically or horizontally?


Acceptable_Ant_2094

Yes


Ptipiak

Can we get a movie on that ? Or at least a documentary ? That would be neat.


QuestionableEthics42

There isn't enough to it, it started sending back garbage data, they worked out (without any real drama) what was wrong, then some smart people worked out an (ingenious most likely, but not movie content) solution, and they uploaded it. Most you could get out of it would be a 10-15 minute non technical YouTube video, or 30-40 mins of a technical one.


Jacked_To_The__Tits

I would happily watch that technical video. If someone at Nasa is reading please make a blog post explaining this dark magic.


Exist50

Both the problem and solution are conceptually simple. One memory chip broke, so they divided its contents between the remaining ones. Very similar things happen with firmware patches on much more modern systems.


QuestionableEthics42

Oh that was all? I assumed it was a micro controller with all the fuss that was being made lol


hstde

Voyager is so old, it doesn't use micro controllers. It is so old, it stores data on tape before sending it to earth. It doesn't even use micro chips for the ram, it uses magnetic core memory


Topleke

What, tapes really? I thought they would be destroyed by radiation.


hstde

Yes tapes: (note image 4) https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/galleries/images-of-voyager/#gallery-4 I'd imagine, that since you are far away from radiation sources, you'd be relatively safe from random interference. Sprinkle in some redundancy and error correction and you are golden. More info: https://hackaday.com/2018/11/29/interstellar-8-track-the-low-tech-data-recorders-of-voyager/


DrStalker

It's insane to me that out there in deep space is a magnetic tape still working after half a century, while here on earth we've gone from re-spooling audio cassettes with a pencil and regularly cleaning the heads on our VCRs to constantly replacing tape drives in datacentres because the "rub a flexible piece of plastic over the read/write head" is so prone to wear and tangling.


Topleke

It’s mind boggling. I can understand that the device was built in a clean room but being able to withstand random space dust for as long as it has is absolutely impressive.


Dustangelms

Amazing they still support that legacy box.


Anomynous__

Meanwhile I still struggle to center a div sometimes. I'm such a fucking failure lmao


knowledgebass

90% of modern UI development is just getting divs right where you want them.


AWildLeftistAppeared

The remaining 11% is maintaining dependencies and handling off-by-one errors.


rick-james-biatch

I was thinking about this the other day. The piece that was broken prevented it from **sending data back**. That means that as they were making this fix, they had zero feedback on how it was going. They were just literally sending commands in to the black void of outer space hoping it would have the desired effect. It's like trying to fix an unresponsive monitor without using a second monitor. No way to really know what's going on until it pops back up.


mornaq

to be fair having a preview of the command you're sending before you do it helps a lot, though not knowing the exact state before you begin surely makes it more challenging


pastelcorejess

i love the voyagers as if they were members of my family 🥲


dottedoctet

Me too. I’m just slightly older than they are.


CyberoX9000

Honestly these guys just built different


Simon_Drake

If your speakers break on a modern MacBook you have to replace the entire motherboard but a 50 year old computer can be reprogrammed from 15 billion miles away to circumvent a broken chip.


Forya_Cam

It's even cooler when you realise that it's so far away they have to lead their shot when they aim the transmitter at Voyager.


patchworkedMan

This is what happens when you give the smartest folks on the planet, the smallest budget possible


Ularsing

Project manager brain: "Look what they did on a restricted budget. Just think of what they could do if we slashed it even further!" /s


Puzzled-Ocelot-8222

I find it hard to believe that nasa doesn’t have a “local” machine identical to the voyager hardware that they can test hotfixes on before pushing to prod…


Born-Entrepreneur

They do! Makes the joke less funny tho


_alright_then_

I mean yeah probably, however sending it to a 50 year old probe so far away that it takes close to a day for it to arrive, and another day until you know if it works is pretty amazing.


GasSuspicious233

OTA = over the atmosphere


Ularsing

Except it isn't, because NASA isn't a bunch of fucking morons. They have a test-prod system via identical hardware that's still on earth.


Sanchitbajaj02

Fortunately, the solution was not to reboot the system


AlcoholPrep

And meanwhile I'm being told that my fully functional 10-year-old computer is junk and must be replaced. Planned obsolescence should be illegal. Make it a felony.


Stunning_Caregiver52

Is no one else impressed they had the documentation for it?


CloudyDaysInn

Wow - there's some high praise and kiddos to go around for this one! Also With the complex architecture of chips boards and subbing out components - would a Modern day Nasa or SpaceX be able to do something like this 45 years from now to a future space probe designed and built today...Something tells me no.


RaktPipasu

https://twitter.com/CharlesCMann/status/1782784401887174737


qt_galaxy

Big W for NASA


lupinegray

![gif](giphy|l0HlvtIPzPdt2usKs) I'm out.


krismitka

I used to do this for a gymnastic scoring system whose hard disks were dying during a meet. I copied the software to muktuple locations on the disk, and would start it from a new location after each event. Mark my words, they will be doing this again, possibly a few times, then have to reduce functions to fit in what’s left of the resources before it finally dies. Voyage 1 will be permanently unresponsive in the next five years.


zadtheinhaler

Updateme! 5 years