richard09
Posts : 4264
Join date : 2013-01-16
 | | Subject: Has Voyager 1 escaped the Sun yet? Yes, but also no, say boffins Sun Nov 08, 2015 6:47 pm | |
| Distant news. Has Voyager 1 escaped the Sun yet? Yes, but also no, say boffins - Quote :
- Measuring that data when it arrives will also be just a little bit harder than it was last week, because the last original member of the Voyager team has retired. Larry Zottarelli, aged 80, left NASA's employ this week after 55 years on the job. Zottarelli helped to develop Voyager's on-board computers and has worked on the mission since 1975. CNN reports that he was sent on his way with a handshake from actress Nichelle Nicholls, Star Trek's Lt. Uhura. NASA is reportedly seeking a replacement fluent in FORTRAN, Algol and assembly language for the Voyagers' 250 KHz General Electric 18-bit TTL CPUs, complete with single register accumulator and bit-serial access to 2096-word plated-wire RAM.
Dear god, that's some primitive stuff. It was out of date when I joined the work-force, in 1977. |
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_Howard
Admin
Posts : 8734
Join date : 2013-01-16
Age : 79
Location : California
| | Subject: Re: Has Voyager 1 escaped the Sun yet? Yes, but also no, say boffins Mon Nov 09, 2015 8:01 am | |
| Damn. Finally a job for which I qualify! Just a little brushing up and I'm ready.
If they're still using punch cards for input, I'm a shoo-in.
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