Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros

From	RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com>
Newsgroups	comp.misc, alt.folklore.computers
Subject	Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros
Date	2015-10-31 20:40 +0300
Message-ID	<d9kcorFpseeU1@mid.individual.net> (permalink)

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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For me the most interesting thing is the comment that the younger tech
staff don't *want* to learn the languages this project now requires.
Pathetic.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/30/has_voyager_1_escaped_the_sun_yet_yes_but_also_no_say_boffins/

//--clip
Boffins have debated whether Voyager 1 has left the Solar System for a
few years now, after NASAdeclared it could no longer detect direct
evidence of the solar wind. The absence of the stream of particles
hurtling out from the sun was taken as evidence Voyager 1 had left the
solar system and entered the interstellar medium. But after revisiting
Voyager data, the new paper suggests some odd magnetic field readings
mean the probe is passing through “a more distorted magnetic field just
outside the heliopause, which is the boundary between the solar wind
and the interstellar medium.”
/--clip

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/31/brush_up_on_your_fortran/

//--clip
In an interview with Popular Mechanics, the manager of NASA's Voyager
program Suzanne Dodd said the retirement of the last original crew
member has left the space agency with a shortage of people capable of
communicating with the 40-year-old craft.
Launched in 1977, the two Voyager crafts rely on mid-70s hardware
powered by purpose-built General Electric interrupt processors. After
38 years in space, the two probes are currently on the outer fringes of
the Sun's influence, heading into interstellar space.
Though most of the instruments onboard the two probes have been
deactivated, both are still able to maintain contact with Earth and
will continue to do so into the 2020's, until their onboard
radioisotope thermoelectric generators no longer function.
In the meantime, NASA needs engineers capable of interacting with the
1970s-era technology, a skillset that includes knowledge of both
Fortran and assembly as well as the ability to command a machine with
just around 68KB of total memory.
"Although, some people can program in an assembly language and
understand the intricacy of the spacecraft, most younger people can't
or really don't want to," Dodd was quoted as saying.
With high-level languages now the standard for developers, knowing how
to fluently code in assembly has become a specialized skill, as has
fluency in dated languages such as Fortran. While obscure, the skillset
is potentially lucrative. Along with NASA's aging fleet of spacecraft,
many businesses still rely on ancient languages such as Fortran or
COBOL for specialized tasks and critical infrastructure. ®
//--clip

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Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2015-10-31 20:40 +0300
  Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2015-10-31 16:09 -0400
    Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Howard S Shubs <howard@shubs.net> - 2015-10-31 20:53 +0000
      Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros artie <artie.m@gNOSPAMmail.com> - 2015-10-31 14:12 -0700
    Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2015-10-31 22:27 +0000
      Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Howard S Shubs <howard@shubs.net> - 2015-11-01 04:37 +0000
        Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Roger Blake <rogblake@iname.invalid> - 2015-11-01 22:44 +0000
          Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros "gareth" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2015-11-01 23:54 +0000
            Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2015-11-02 13:17 +0000
              Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros "gareth" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2015-11-02 15:35 +0000
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net> - 2015-11-02 08:36 -0800
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros "gareth" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2015-11-02 17:37 +0000
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros David Hume <David.Hume@example.com> - 2015-11-02 17:28 +0000
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> - 2015-11-04 01:28 +0000
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Walter Bushell <proto@panix.com> - 2015-11-11 12:08 -0500
              Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2015-11-03 07:17 +1100
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2015-11-03 12:54 +0000
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2015-11-04 08:06 +1100
              Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros "gareth" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2015-11-02 20:48 +0000
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2015-11-03 12:54 +0000
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros "gareth" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2015-11-03 13:01 +0000
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Andrew Swallow <am.swallow@btinternet.com> - 2015-11-03 19:27 +0000
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros "gareth" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2015-11-04 11:04 +0000
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Andrew Swallow <am.swallow@btinternet.com> - 2015-11-04 23:48 +0000
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Walter Bushell <proto@panix.com> - 2015-11-11 12:12 -0500
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros     wje@acm.org (Bill Evans) - 2015-11-11 12:35 -0800
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Joy Beeson <jbeeson@invalid.net.invalid> - 2015-11-11 23:11 -0400
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2015-11-12 15:31 +0000
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2015-11-12 18:41 +0100
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2015-11-04 13:52 +0000
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros "gareth" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2015-11-04 15:00 +0000
                Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2015-11-05 08:56 +1100
      Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Greymaus <mausg@mail.com> - 2015-11-01 11:58 +0000
        Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Walter Bushell <proto@panix.com> - 2015-11-11 12:15 -0500
          Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Andrew Swallow <am.swallow@btinternet.com> - 2015-11-12 00:40 +0000
    Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2015-11-02 14:29 +0000
      Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2015-11-02 09:06 -0600
        Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros "D. Aaron Sawyer" <aaron@110.net> - 2015-11-02 10:10 -0500
          Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2015-11-02 09:27 -0600
          Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2015-11-02 15:35 +0000
        Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2015-11-02 19:21 +0000
  Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros "Charles Richmond" <numerist@aquaporin4.com> - 2015-10-31 15:26 -0500
    Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Hils <hils@saynotospam.net> - 2015-10-31 22:32 +0000
      Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2015-10-31 20:47 -0400
    Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Theo Markettos <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> - 2015-11-02 11:05 +0000
      Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2015-11-02 14:33 +0300
      Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros "Charles Richmond" <numerist@aquaporin4.com> - 2015-11-02 15:12 -0600
  Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2017-05-04 10:40 +0000
    Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2017-05-04 10:53 +0000
      Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2017-05-05 13:44 +0200
    Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Andrew Swallow <am.swallow@btinternet.com> - 2017-05-05 01:15 +0100
      Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2017-05-05 04:29 -0400
        Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2017-05-05 09:49 +0100
        Re: Last Voyager engineer retires, NASA needs Fortran/Algol pros Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2017-05-05 13:10 +0200

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