Tuesday, September 5, 2017

40 Years On

Voyager 1 was launched on this day in 1977.

It was sort of odd that Voyager 2 was launched first, on August 20th.

Both probes are still sending back data. Voyager 1 is in interstellar space, -2 is expected to cross over in about two years. Both probes are expected to run out of power in about eight years.

NASA stopped launching Voyager probes after 1977. I guess they didn't want to take the risk of sending out Voyager 6.

9 comments:

  1. About this notion that the some bastard is going to come rescue us… that as the blood of our adolescent squabbles over whose imaginary dog has the bigger dick rises to the horses’ bridle will come floating down out of the sky on a white horse with a thousand angels to carry away the chosen few, the faithful… Who are these “Chosen People”, these “faithful”? The genetically purest cattle (or pigs, as it is)? More accurately: just who do they think they are? Get this straight, these “Chosen People”, these “faithful”, can destroy the world – burn the forests, chop down the mountains, turn the air we breath into toxic gas and waters we drink into vast garbage reservoirs… can

    drop their fucking bombs and burn the screaming babies

    and at the last moment, the moment the world is utterly destroyed, after the bloodbath, some spectral being with whom they’ve entered into some kind of “special” contractual obligation is going to float down out of the sky and carry them away.

    Uh-huh. To what?

    Far the more likely thousands upon thousands of cavernous spacecraft, vast slaughter-houses piloted by ravenous vaguely reptilian creatures, replete with horns and folked tail, intent not as benevolent overseers of the demise of this world and our current iteration in human evolution and our children’s evolution onto the next iteration of humanity but as ravenous reptilian creatures… you know, hungry lizards.

    We did, afterall, invite them to “Come Eat!” 😎

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  2. TTB, what the hell brought that on?

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  3. Whst does "V" have to do with it?

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  4. Childhood's End, perhaps?

    -Doug in Oakland

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  5. I just like reminding people that when the critters come to get us, we invited them. That was actually part of an Easter blogswarm post ten years ago.

    Very good Doug, go to the head of the class: you're the first to make that connection.

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  6. Remember the original mini-series V with the reptile overlords looking to stock their mini-freezers with humans?

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  7. Amazing that early transistor tech was so sturdy. I have an old late 60's or early 70's amplifier that lists the number of transistors like it was a spec. Still works though after many moves and 40 years of storage.
    I can picture that baby send out signals from the deepest regions of space.
    On the other side, that Gold Record idea scared me, except expecting aliens to "play a record" was pretty funny itself.
    I will never forget the old Twilight Zone with the "Book of Wisdom" that turned out to be a cook book for eating humans.
    w3ski

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