August 20, 2025 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Today is the 50th anniversary of the launch of the first Command Computer Subsystem (CCS) on Viking 1
The link goes to a video about the primitive computer system that both Viking orbiters and landers used, as well as Voyagers 1 and 2, still operating almost a half century after they were turned on.
- Chinese researchers date the formation of the Moon’s Apollo Basin on its far side as occurring 4.16 billion years ago
They used data from samples brought back by the Chang’e-6 mission.
- Chinese institute proposes an orbiter and lander mission to the Saturn moon Enceladus
The lander would include a drill able to drill down as much three miles.
- On this day in 1977 Voyager 2 was launched.
Still working after almost a half century.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Today is the 50th anniversary of the launch of the first Command Computer Subsystem (CCS) on Viking 1
The link goes to a video about the primitive computer system that both Viking orbiters and landers used, as well as Voyagers 1 and 2, still operating almost a half century after they were turned on.
- Chinese researchers date the formation of the Moon’s Apollo Basin on its far side as occurring 4.16 billion years ago
They used data from samples brought back by the Chang’e-6 mission.
- Chinese institute proposes an orbiter and lander mission to the Saturn moon Enceladus
The lander would include a drill able to drill down as much three miles.
- On this day in 1977 Voyager 2 was launched.
Still working after almost a half century.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Seems that cosmic ray damage resulting in electronics’ upsets may not be as bad as thought, given the 50-year operation of Vikings and Voyagers. They undoubtedly used backup systems, but 50 years without having a cosmic ray defense is laudable.
We always did a rough estimate for potential cosmic ray damage on the large (2-inch to 6-inch diameter) power semiconductors that we used (series connected SCRs, GTOs, IGBTs). All for earth-based, high-voltage, assemblies.
Hopefully the IGBTs have gotten better over the years. When those semiconductors first came out, it seemed they failed if you looked at them wrong! IGBTs are the great crossing of the BJTs and MOSFETs, and they proved to work well in inverter design for motor controls.
Voyager had late 70’s electronics….less clunky than Apollo–not as sensitive as newer tech.
Voyager itself is an example of coding hygiene-Assembly language, etc.
Don C.: Voyager CCS (computer command system) uses bipolar TTL for logic, and magnetic wire memory. This technology is less susceptible to cosmic ray events than more modern MOS.
Voyager 1 did recently have a problem with a CMOS chip in its flight data subsystem (FDS). This may have been due to a cosmic ray hit.
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/voyager/2024/04/04/engineers-pinpoint-cause-of-voyager-1-issue-are-working-on-solution/
Obviously the smaller the feature size of the transistors and wires on the chip the more likely that a cosmic ray will damage the feature. I wonder if we even have the foundry any more to create such chips. Newer chips depend on redundancy.
This is pretty good, lots of factoids:
“Uptime 15,364 days – The Command Computer System of Voyager”
by Aaron Cummings (2019)
https://youtu.be/H62hZJVqs2o
40:04
Metal prints
https://phys.org/news/2025-08-nasa-printable-metal-extreme-temperatures.html
Antenna technology
https://techxplore.com/news/2025-08-antenna-enables-versatile-wide-range.html