Since being launched 36 years, 4 months, and 20 days ago, Voyager continues to communicate with NASA via the Deep Space Network. It still receives routine commands and return data for scientists to analyze.
Even through it’s 11.6 billion miles away in interstellar space, Voyager I’s computer systems aren’t as advanced as one might think. In reality, it has less than 40 KB of memory. To put that in perspective, your 16 GB iPhone 5 has about 240,000 times the memory of the Voyager 1 spacecraft.
So why does it have so such little computing power? Because it’s old, basically. NASA developed the Voyager I in the 1970s, a pre-computer era where scientists worked primarily using pencil, paper, chalkboards and their own mathematical skills. Still, even with its antiquated technology, Voyager I is considered one of NASA’s most successful missions.
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