Mastodawn

AkaSci 🛰️Nov 8, 2023

The Voyager 1 spacecraft earlier today transmitted a 6.5 hour playback of data from its 8-track digital tape recorder (DTR)!

This data will arrive 22.5 hours later between 10:37 and 17:13 UTC on Thu, Nov 9 and be captured using 5 arrayed antennas at the NASA DSN Madrid site in Robledo de Chavela, Spain.

Tx rate = 1.4 kbps instead of the normal 160 bps, which requires simultaneous reception by the 5 antennas.
1.4 kbps * 6.5 hours = 4 Mbytes

https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/pdf/sfos2023pdf/23_11_09-23_11_27.sfos.pdf
@destevez
#Voyager
1/n

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Peter Gleick Nov 9, 2023

@AkaSci @destevez
I'm sorry but are you saying Voyager 1 has a WORKING 8 TRACK DIGITAL TAPE RECORDER????

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AkaSci 🛰️

@petergleick Why is that so hard to believe? Aren't all our gadgets, including tape recorders 📼, from the 70s still working here on earth? 😜
(With zero repair or maintenance, of course).
https://hackaday.com/2018/11/29/interstellar-8-track-the-low-tech-data-recorders-of-voyager/

Interstellar 8-Track: The Not-So-Low-Tech Data Recorders Of Voyager

On the outside chance that we ever encounter a space probe from an alien civilization, the degree to which the world will change cannot be overestimated. Not only will it prove that we’re not…

Hackaday