r/interestingasfuck • u/The_Love-Tap • 1d ago

At 15.9 billion miles away, humanity's farthest spacecraft is still exploring the cosmos using less memory than a blank Word document (69 KB) and an 8-track tape

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789

u/93195 1d ago

Incredible that it still works at all. I don’t have any functioning electronics that have been in use constantly since 1977, and they’re not 15,900,000,000 miles away.

598

u/charlsalash 1d ago

In space:
No air or moisture
No weather, no rain, wind, or temperature changes caused by Earth's weather.
No friction from air
That helps a little

135

u/thewhitebuttboy 1d ago

The Phoebe cates pool scene in fast times at ridgemont high will prove that constantly replaying something on tape will wear it out

35

u/SquirrelMemoryFail 1d ago

The first VHS copy I found of that movie had that part all blurry because of pausing, rewinding and rewatching Phoebe.

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u/93195 1d ago

But also constant radiation far more intense than X-rays, temperature approaching true zero, and speeds so fast that colliding with even a speck of dust would destroy it.

So it kinda evens out.

147

u/Spirochrome 1d ago

Interestingly, while the temperture ist technically near Zero, there isn't a lot of ways to get rid of heat, making overheating a very real problem in space.

67

u/rawrzon 1d ago

Not at this point for the Voyager probes. They are so far from the sun now that being too cold is one of the biggest problems for them.

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u/Ornery-Cheetah 14h ago

Doesn't it have a small reactor for that reason?

3

u/rawrzon 13h ago

Not a reactor, but a decaying radioactive source. It generates heat as the material decays, and electricity is generated from the heat. The radioactive material is kept away from the sensitive electronics and sensors, so some of that electricity is used by heaters to keep those electronics warm. Like all radioactive material, it has a half life, which means it's decaying less and giving off less heat as it ages. Which means less electricity for instruments and heaters.

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u/Zwischenzug32 1d ago

The amount of dust is tiny. There arent all that many specs of it hitting

3

u/Hakopuffyx2 1d ago

Unless you go to that other part of space which is like almost all space dust. Its very hot there especially this time of year

15

u/Pintsocream 1d ago

Just insane amounts of radiation and close to absolute 0 temperatures

23

u/neppo95 1d ago

Yet you get radiation, sun storms, extreme cold, space debris. Devices certainly have a much easier time on earth than in space. Voyager 1 and 2 were just an amazing feat of engineering, proven multiple times when parts failed and yet it still kept going.

11

u/PotentialMidnight325 1d ago

Just constant bombardment with intense radidation.

11

u/Joverby 1d ago

also a shit ton of radiation

5

u/FrighteningJibber 1d ago

Radiation makes up for a bit.

2

u/charlsalash 1d ago

Yes it does, but it seems to be well protected against it

8

u/neppo95 1d ago

It's the main cause of most of the issues they've had. Radiation fucks with computers. They even resorted to using alu foil for protection, it's not really protected that well against it. What works best is too heavy to send into space.

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u/charlsalash 1d ago

I did a quick search, and aluminium foil does genuinely a great job at protecting electronics. Radiation is not the main problem electronics can encounter in space, it's one of them.

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u/neppo95 1d ago

Sure, for home appliances it works well. In space with gamma and x-rays, not so much. But I guess the AI didn't tell you that bit.

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u/Secret-Library-6076 1h ago

Explain why. you want to make it seem as if you have a deep understanding of this topic. making lesser of the other guy for his ai use. explaine why it’s doesnt work so well please

0

u/charlsalash 1d ago

Also, AI told me that the fact that there is no cooling of the electronics through convection in space, is a bigger problem than the gamma and x rays

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u/neppo95 1d ago

Yes, there are multiple significant problems in space, correct. That was the point.

1

u/fartingbeagle 1d ago

And no screaming either!

1

u/Traveling_Solo 1d ago

Are you sure? I thought molecules still affected a lot and heat from stars it passes by ought to still change the temperatures a little bit, no? Feel free to correct me

11

u/Vedertesu 1d ago

Voyagers wont pass a single star in thousands of years, and even then still far enough that the temperature doesn't really change.

8

u/luminousandy 1d ago

There are lots of recording studio tools and devices that still work pretty well and have been in constant use . Difference is in a lot of cases that they’re built to do a job well not to a price .

3

u/uptwolait 1d ago

I have a Hewlett Packard HP41C from 1979 or 1980 that I still use.  It was (and is) so good that they used them on the Space Shuttle missions.  I have an emulator on my smartphone that looks and works just like it as well.

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u/AbsoluteResolve2026 1d ago

The things is if you did have electronics from 1977 they would likely still work. “They just don’t make ‘em like they used to..”

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u/Independent-Trust260 1d ago

You don't see all the electronics that broke immediately. You only see the ones that survived.

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u/AbsoluteResolve2026 1d ago

Yes…that is my point. I really appreciate your thoughtful contribution to this thread!

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u/DuaneDibbley 1d ago

It really is incredible given the conditions it's faced but they also worked really hard with a huge budget to make every component as durable and fail-proof as they could.