Comment Such long-term thinking (Score 1) 32
Many of use are just worried about the next 2.5 years. (*sigh*)
Submission + - Why Voyager 1 Matters and Why NASA Just Switched Part of It Off (npr.org)
fahrbot-bot writes: NRP reports on the history of Voyager 1 and its recent reconfiguration.
Voyager 1, the most distant human-made object ever built, is running out of power. And the engineers who tend to it, from offices at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, are doing everything they can to delay the inevitable.
This week, NASA announced it had shut down one of that spacecraft's remaining science instruments — not because the mission has failed, but to keep it alive a little longer.
On April 17, mission engineers sent a sequence of commands to deactivate the Low-energy Charged Particles experiment, known as the LECP, which is one of Voyager 1's remaining science instruments. The LECP has measured ions, electrons, and cosmic rays originating from both our solar system and the galaxy beyond it, helping scientists map the structure of interstellar space in a way no other instrument could. Its counterpart on Voyager 2 was turned off in March 2025.
Years ago, the Voyager science and engineering teams jointly agreed on the order in which instruments would be switched off, to conserve power while preserving the most scientifically valuable capabilities. The LECP was next on that list. "While shutting down a science instrument is not anybody's preference, it is the best option available," said Kareem Badaruddin, Voyager mission manager at JPL, in a blog entry published by NASA Friday.
Voyager 1 now carries two operational science instruments: one that listens for plasma waves, and one that measures magnetic fields. Engineers believe the latest shutdown could buy the mission roughly another year of breathing room.
The team is also developing a more sweeping power conservation plan they informally call "the Big Bang" — a coordinated swap of several powered components all at once, trading older systems for lower-power alternatives. If testing on Voyager 2, planned for May and June 2026, goes well, the same procedure will be attempted on Voyager 1 no sooner than July. If it works, there is even a slim chance the LECP could once more continue to work.
The engineers say they hope to keep at least one instrument operating on each spacecraft into the 2030s. It would leave both still reporting from places no machine has ever gone before.
Voyager 1, the most distant human-made object ever built, is running out of power. And the engineers who tend to it, from offices at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, are doing everything they can to delay the inevitable.
This week, NASA announced it had shut down one of that spacecraft's remaining science instruments — not because the mission has failed, but to keep it alive a little longer.
On April 17, mission engineers sent a sequence of commands to deactivate the Low-energy Charged Particles experiment, known as the LECP, which is one of Voyager 1's remaining science instruments. The LECP has measured ions, electrons, and cosmic rays originating from both our solar system and the galaxy beyond it, helping scientists map the structure of interstellar space in a way no other instrument could. Its counterpart on Voyager 2 was turned off in March 2025.
Years ago, the Voyager science and engineering teams jointly agreed on the order in which instruments would be switched off, to conserve power while preserving the most scientifically valuable capabilities. The LECP was next on that list. "While shutting down a science instrument is not anybody's preference, it is the best option available," said Kareem Badaruddin, Voyager mission manager at JPL, in a blog entry published by NASA Friday.
Voyager 1 now carries two operational science instruments: one that listens for plasma waves, and one that measures magnetic fields. Engineers believe the latest shutdown could buy the mission roughly another year of breathing room.
The team is also developing a more sweeping power conservation plan they informally call "the Big Bang" — a coordinated swap of several powered components all at once, trading older systems for lower-power alternatives. If testing on Voyager 2, planned for May and June 2026, goes well, the same procedure will be attempted on Voyager 1 no sooner than July. If it works, there is even a slim chance the LECP could once more continue to work.
The engineers say they hope to keep at least one instrument operating on each spacecraft into the 2030s. It would leave both still reporting from places no machine has ever gone before.
Comment So... a mRNA cancer treatment, under RFK, Jr? (Score 2) 6
Given how much HHS Secretary RFK, Jr. is against mRNA vaccines and is cancelling support and funding for them -- Google: RFK mrna cancels -- I wonder how he'll feel about the FDA considering and approving this?
Comment Re:Okie dokie, but ... (Score 1) 18
Nevertheless, the US still has the highest percentage of successful missions to Mars, compared to organizations and countries with all-metric programs.
Funny, that.
According to the below, generally, yes, but mathematically, no. The U.S. has the highest number of attempts and percentage of successful missions - given a multitude of missions, but China, India, and the UAE all have a 100% success rate. I can't imagine using Imperial over Metric factors into the success rate, especially considering the even the U.S. generally uses Metric for this kind of thing.
I haven't verified this, but according to the bot answer in What is the success rate of the Mars mission of every country?
- United States (NASA + private US-led missions): Attempts: 46, Successes: 26, Success rate: ~56%
- Soviet Union / Russia: Attempts: 25, Successes: 1–2, Success rate: ~4–8%
- European Space Agency (ESA): Attempts: 7, Successes: 3, Success rate: ~43%
- India (ISRO): Attempts: 1, Successes: 1, Success rate: 100%
- China (CNSA): Attempts: 2, Successes: 2, Success rate: 100%
- Japan (JAXA): Attempts: 2, Successes: 0, Success rate: 0%
- United Arab Emirates (MBRSC): Attempts: 1, Successes: 1, Success rate: 100%
- Iran, Israel, others: Attempts: 0–1, Successes: 0, Success rate: 0%
Comment Ya, but ... (Score 1, Informative) 35
House Republican leaders believed Thursday night they had struck a deal with conservative holdouts who harbor deep and longstanding concerns that a key piece of the law infringes on Americans' privacy rights.
All of whom are apparently okay with ICE arresting, deporting and killing U.S. citizens, though.
Comment Okie dokie, but ... (Score 2) 18
Just make sure everyone is using the same units
Comment Re:Which begs the question... (Score 1) 49
... What are they talking about? "Gladis, look out, there's a Japanese whaling ship heading in your direction!" "Where's a transparent aluminum tank in a Klingon warbird when you need one!?"
Then they lament, "Those frelling Humpback whales probably got it."
Comment Re:Why? (Score 2) 29
Recall, a feature that promised to track all your PC usage via screenshot to help you remember your past activity.
Who asked for this?
The people at Microsoft who wanted more universal telemetry and activity data, even for non-Microsoft software?
Comment Re:Recall wasn't there to help the user! (Score 2) 29
Recall is there to vacuum up all the sensitive data "on" the computer and make it available to Microsoft and their partners for their use.
I liken it to telemetry that can apply to all software / activities on a system - even third-party software - w/o having embed telemetry in any software. Simply screenshot things every few seconds and scan the images with OCR and/or "AI". Truly a horrible situation for the end-users.
Comment Raises hand (Score 2) 50
Linux Mint may eventually lean more heavily on its Debian roots rather than its traditional Ubuntu base.
And that would be bad why? Sure, Debian moves more slowly than Ubuntu, but but they're also not all-in on Snap. I'll take stability over cutting-edge for most things, especially if things that need more frequent (security) updates, like Firefox and Thunderbird, are also available - as packages. Also, don't most fixes from Ubuntu (and others) eventually get pushed upstream to Debian anyway?
Comment So... more U.S. oil sales? (Score 5, Insightful) 347
Maybe Trump is just making good on promises to U.S. oil executives/companies -- first killing wind farms and subsidies/credits for renewables and now hampering middle-east oil production and shipments.
Trump pressed oil executives to give $1 billion for his campaign
Comment Re:Sure, but ... (Score 1) 239
Right, not everyone wants a large vehicle. Not everyone is an automotive enthusiast. Seems that's what the big three don't understand.
They do (cynically) understand profit margins though and trucks, SUVs, and muscle cars are more profitable than smaller, economic cars - not only in sales, but maintenance too.
Comment Re:Why don't you say the real problem (Score 3, Informative) 239
But I don't think any of that applies to a CEO that makes millions.
And comparatively, their U.S. workers *are* slave labor and the rich and Republicans seem okay with that -- pushing for fewer/lower worker safety regulations, less affordable / available healthcare and more expensive insurance, cutting and/or further restricting social safety nets. etc... They're okay with poorer people simply working themselves to death.
Comment Sure, but ... (Score 2) 239
"First of all, the Chinese have huge direct support for their auto companies," [Ford CEO] Farley said,
Not allowing consumers to buy those Chinese vehicles kinda props up Ford, and other companies. Some people may buy vehicles solely based on price, but most consider other factors too. If Ford can't compete on those other factors, it doesn't really matter what the prices are. For example, my 2001 Honda Civic Ex and 2002 Honda CR-V Ex (both manuals btw) weren't the least expensive vehicles I could have purchased, but they're (still) reliable and have long maintenance intervals.
Comment Re:"spectre of ... non-compliance" (Score 4, Funny) 48
The moment you read something like "spectre of
Really hoping that's not the screenplay for next James Bond film.
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