Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Monday, December 13, 2010

Sometimes, We Build Them Better Than We Could Ever Have Known

Voyager 1 has reached the heliosheath, which is the border area between the space of our solar system and interstellar space. It is the first space probe to do this, to directly measure what the astronomers had theorized. In a few more years, it will be the first man-made object to have flown into interstellar space.

By that time, Voyager 1 will be nearly 40 years old. It is projected to continue doing science for ten more years before it runs out of attitude control propellant and/or the radioisotope generator's output drops too low to be useful.

The five space probes that we have sent out on solar-escape trajectories may be humanity's most enduring legacies. All but one were launched in the 1970s.

(H/T)

4 comments:

Nangleator said...

We stand on the shoulders of giants. That generation won a great war, on two fronts. They modernized a nation, explored space and put men on the moon.

The current generation is too winy to pay to fix pipes and roads and bridges, or educate our children. Not to mention advance any science of any kind.

The survivors will be able to look back on the ashes of our civilization and complain, "It was just too expensive!"

Cujo359 said...

This still amazes me, that we could have built things so well that they can still send data from that far away.

Comrade Misfit said...

Nangleator, on the other side of the coin, space technology has evolved since then. We've sent orbital probes to most of the planets, including the MESSENGER spacecraft, which is on its way to Mercury. Cassini is doing astonishing work around Saturn. The Galileo spacecraft orbited Jupiter for years.

We've sent orbiters, landers and rovers to Mars; the Opportunity rover is still doing science and is a month away from the seventh anniversary of its landing-- it was built to last 90 days. It's twin, the Spirit rover, got stuck and may have died, but it an for over six years.

The Soviets sent a number of orbiters and landers to Venus. Venus is incredibly hostile; very hot, atmospheric pressures of ninety times ours and an atmosphere of supercritical and highly corrosive carbon dioxide. The Soviet landers were designed to withstand that for 30 minutes and one survived for two hours.

Cujo, JPL deserves a lot of honor for the way they designed and built the Voyagers.

Nangleator said...

That's true, Comrade. I'm just grumpy lately.

Very impressed with any probe that can last in the vicinity of Jupiter. Also impressed with anyone that can navigate a probe in that gravity environment. Damnably complex, it is.