[Tig] Copernicus 4X4 engineering manual

[Rob Lingelbach]

On Aug 31, 2007, at 12:37 AM, Robert Houllahan wrote:

> Can't wait to get this new 8:8:8 that everyone has been talking about.

that's a funny line Rob.    There is an article in the online edition  
of the Sydney Morning Herald, the subject of which is the Voyager  
spacecraft which are still communicating with computers near  
Canberra.  The computers are 30 years old but must be maintained  
because more modern machines (paraphrased) 'are too fast to work the  
32bps' that the Voyagers use.  (seems like there's more to that story  
and the article oversimplifies.)

There is another very interesting part in the article, regarding  
archive formats:
---begin article quote---
"Both carry disks loaded with pictures and sounds from Earth. "It's  
like a message in a bottle, a message from humanity for whoever might  
find it," Mr Nagle said.
Assuming, of course, that aliens can play such outmoded technology.   
---end article quote---

URL is

http://www.smh.com.au/news/science/thirty-years-tracking-faint- 
whispers-from-space/2007/08/31/1188067368154.html

Anyone remember the Star Trek movie with irrepressible Bill Shatner  
coming across one of the Voyagers in the future?

Rob Lingelbach
rob at colorist.org  http://www.colorist.org/robhome.html